Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Highlights from the Prophet Isaiah

A sermon series on the book of Isaiah by our Pastor Geoffrey Willour.

  • The Holy One, and the Lowly Heart

    The Holy One, and the Lowly Heart

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 57:14-21 calls a backslidden people to prepare the way back to God by removing every obstruction. In Isaiah’s day the obstruction was idolatry. The human heart still makes idols of family, career, and settled church habits, and sin stands in the way above all. Christ, who is himself the way, removes that obstacle. The Holy One who inhabits eternity dwells with the contrite and lowly, a spirit the Holy Spirit creates in the new birth, as Psalm 51 and James 4 also teach. God sees the backslider’s ways and promises to heal, lead, and restore him, speaking peace to the far and the near, Gentiles and Jews alike (Ephesians 2:17-18). The wicked, like the tossing sea, find no rest. Christ calms the guilty conscience and gives rest to the weary.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Well, please remain standing, dear friends, for the reading of God’s Word as we continue our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah, various portions from Isaiah. Today, this morning, we are in Isaiah chapter 57, and we’ll be considering in particular verses 14 through 21, Isaiah 57, verses That begins in your Pew Bibles on page 733. I’m going to begin reading at verse 11 to fill out the context a little bit. Isaiah begins this chapter upbraiding and confronting the people with their sin of idolatry, but then he speaks words of comfort to the people in our passage for today. So, beginning at verse 11 in Isaiah, dear friends, hear the Word of God. Whom did you dread and fear so that you lied and did not remember me, did not lay it to heart? Have I not held my peace even for a long time, and you do not fear me?

    I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. The wind will carry them all off. A breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.” And it shall be said, build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way. For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place. And also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry. For the spirit would grow faint before me and the breath of life that I made.

    Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I was angry. I struck him. I hid my face and was angry. But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him. I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Once again, dear friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of His Word this morning.

    Our Lord and our God, gracious Heavenly Father, You are the true and living God. You, O Lord God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are the Holy One. who inhabits eternity. And yet, Lord, you stoop in your sovereign grace to dwell among those who are of a contrite and lowly spirit. We ask, Lord, that you, by your spirit in sovereign grace, would grant that we would have such a lowly and contrite spirit, that we might be open and receptive to that which the Spirit is declaring to us in this portion of your God-breathed, infallible Word. And so, Lord, be with us. We pray that your word, as you promised, would not return void, but would accomplish all that which you intend for it to accomplish, and may it accomplish mighty acts of grace in our hearts and lives this day.

    We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. Please be seated. There are sermon outlines in the foyer in the back. If you didn’t get a copy of that, I’d encourage you to follow along in the outlines. And I’d especially like to encourage the children this day to be listening to the four key words in my sermon today. Repentance, humble, peace, and turmoil. Well, imagine that you are finally on a much-needed vacation. And so you pack yourself and your family in the car, and you take a long journey to a remote vacation spot that can only be accessed by one road. And let’s say that after traveling a long distance, you finally reach this road to your dream vacation getaway. And you turn onto this road, and you’re traveling along the road for a while, but then you notice ahead of you that on the road, a tree lies fallen across the roadway, and there is absolutely no way to get around it.

    Before you can complete your journey and reach the final destination of your vacation getaway, somehow that tree, that large unmoving obstacle, will need to be removed and the way will need to be cleared. Otherwise, your journey will be hindered, will continue to be hindered, and your vacation plans will be ruined. Well, dear ones, among Isaiah’s contemporaries, there was a great obstacle standing in the way of them in their spiritual journey back to God. And this obstacle standing in the way of the people stood in the way of their spiritual progress in their return to Yahweh their God and to the covenant life of fellowship with the Lord that God had called them to walk in. The greatest blessing of this covenant life, my friends, was and is the covenant promise that Yahweh our God, the Holy One of Israel, would graciously dwell among us and we with Him as His people.

    That’s the essence of the eternal covenant of grace. God says, I will be your God, you will be my people, and I will dwell in your midst.” And of course, that covenant of grace is ultimately manifested and completed and brought about by the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the Word made flesh, who came to dwell in our midst. But the greatest obstacle to the people’s spiritual progress and their life in covenant with God was their persistent and oftentimes unrepentant compromises with idolatry. They were compromising. They were still worshiping Yahweh, but they were compromising with the gods and the worldviews of their pagan Gentile neighbors. The professed people of God had backslidden by following the way of their own hearts, as we’re told in verse 17 of our passage for today.

    And that backslidden heart was expressed in their idol worship. And that, of course, had angered the Lord, who calls us to have no other gods before him in the very first commandment. But friends, in this passage, we see that God in his grace promises to heal and restore even his backslidden people. The holy, lofty one, the one who inhabits eternity, promises to dwell among those who in repentance manifest a lowly, contrite heart. And that brings us to our passage for today as we first of all consider repentance and the removal of obstacles. Repentance and the removal of obstacles in our way of progress toward God. In verse 14, after having spoken of those who take refuge in the Lord, at the end of verse 13 he says, but he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.

    That’s Old Covenant language for the reality that those who seek saving refuge in Yahweh the Lord, those who trust in the Lord for their salvation will be saved, and that is that is symbolized, signified by possessing the promised land and inheriting the Lord’s holy mountain. That speaks of heavenly life, life in covenant communion with God. And then in verse 14 it says, and it shall be said, build up build up, prepare the way. But what is necessary for preparing the way back into a life of integrity with God, a right relationship with God? Well, it involves removing every obstacle in that way. Remove every obstruction from my people’s way. Through the spirit of prophecy, Isaiah here anticipates the time of restoration that would ultimately be ushered in by Jesus, the promised Messiah. And since the time of restoration is coming, let the professed people of God prepare the way.

    How? By renouncing the idolatry that had led to the Babylonian exile and by returning in true faith and repentance to Yahweh, their faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. Now this passage, of course, contains echoes of chapter 40, verse 3. Chapter 40 is the beginning of this final section of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and we notice similar language in Isaiah 40, verse 3. In fact, let’s turn back to Isaiah 40. Let me read verses 3 through 6. Keep your finger in chapter 57, and notice verse 40, verses three through six. A voice cries, in the wilderness do what? Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

    In other words, obstacles are going to be removed. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” And, of course, again, we see echoes of that language here in verse day, build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” And of course, John the Baptist fulfilled this passage by preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in order to prepare the people for the manifestation, the public manifestation of Jesus the Messiah. We read that earlier in the of Matthew, Matthew 3. Let me just again read Matthew 3, 1 through 6, where you see that Matthew quotes from this Isaiah 40 passage that I just referred to. It says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The kingdom of heaven, God’s reign of grace and salvation that is brought near in the person and saving work of the promised Messiah.

    That kingdom is at hand, he says. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. And thus, this was a preparation, a removing of obstacles, the obstacle of sin and rebellion, and preparing the way for Jesus, the Messiah. But getting back to our passage for today, notice in verse 14, notice it says, build up, build up, prepare the way. Isaiah doesn’t just write, build up and prepare the way, he repeats himself.

    And Isaiah, if you read the book of Isaiah carefully, you know that one of the literary devices that Isaiah uses is repetition. And he is fond of using repetition for emphasis, sort of like us preachers, we like to repeat ourselves. And sometimes you say, okay pastor, I get it. You’ve already said it multiple times. I’m just following the example of the Bible. That’s what God does in his word. He repeats himself for emphasis. And we’re reminded, for example, of Isaiah 40, verse 1, where God says, comfort, comfort my people. He doesn’t just say, comfort my people, but he repeats himself for emphasis. Or we see that again, that emphasis, that repetition highlighted again even in our passage for today in verse 19, where the Lord says, peace, peace. to the far and to the near, not just peace once, but peace, peace.

    So this is the Holy Spirit using this literary device to grab our attention and say, you need to listen up, this is important. Build up, build up. Build up what? Prepare the way. Remove every obstruction from my people’s way. What is this way? We are to prepare the way, we’re told. What is the way? Well, the way that is to be prepared for. This language figuratively describes here the highway or way of salvation. And in terms of removing obstacles from, in the words of one commentator, here it is only a figure of speech for the removal of everything which hinders the spiritual advance of the people of God. Those obstacles, of course, those hindrances in Isaiah’s day would include their idolatry. And so preparing the way would include for them a repentance from the idolatry among the people that is described in the first 13 verses of this chapter.

    This, my friends, is a call to show the contrite and lowly spirit of repentance that Isaiah speaks of in verse 15. And in the context in which he is speaking and prophesying, that would involve forsaking idolatry and returning in faith to the covenant life and fellowship with God. So bringing this here into our new covenant situation today, how does this apply to us? We don’t tend to be tempted by brazen, crude idol worship as the Israelites may have been, or often were, I should say, in Old Testament times. But let me ask you, dear listener, what are some of the obstacles to spiritual progress that we encounter in the church and in our own lives? Many things perhaps could be mentioned. For the professed people of God in Isaiah’s time, it was compromised with crude, brazen idolatry.

    But while idolatry is less obvious today, we are still confronted today with the temptations to idolatry, though an idolatry that is more subtle, more sophisticated. John Calvin was right. The human heart is a factory of idols. And you may not bow down before a block of wood or a statue of gold, but anything that you look to as centering your identity upon other than the Lord Jesus Christ, that is your idol. It may be a good thing, making, for example, making your family, your husband, your wife, your children, making that the primary identifying factor in your life, the primary thing that you live for. That’s idolatry if it replaces Christ. making your job, your career, if that’s the most important thing, the highest priority in your life, that is a hindrance, that is an obstacle in your way of living a life in fellowship and covenant communion with God.

    Many other things could be mentioned. In terms of our life together as a church, what is the obstacle that often gets in the way of the church’s progress, spiritual progress, in its covenant life of communion with God? Well, sometimes in the church, that obstacle, that idol is, well, this is always the way we’ve done it. Now, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes the way we’ve always done things is a good way. And I’m not thinking of anything in particular that I would criticize or change. But the temptation for us is to get set in our ways, even if those ways are contrary to scripture or to the edification of the church. our ways as a church are not grounded in the Word of God. We need to be willing to be reformed. We need to be humble and contrite and teachable as a body of His people.

    So friends, whatever the case may be, whatever it is the obstacle might be in our individual lives and in our corporate life together as God’s people, let us in repentance call out to God to graciously remove the obstacles of idolatry that tempt our hearts as individual believers and that tempt us in the church. But the greatest obstacle to our return to God, the greatest obstacle in the way of our living a life of fellowship and covenant communion with the Lord is, of course, our sin in all of its multifaceted aspects. And the good news of Jesus Christ is that Christ died for our sins. Christ himself removes all obstacles in the way of our return to our heavenly home. Praise God that through Jesus Christ, His eternal, only begotten, divine Son, our Savior, God has removed all obstacles that stand in the way of His people returning to Him.

    And ultimately, my friends, the only way to prepare the way is to trust in the one who is himself the way, the truth, and the life, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He alone has made the way for the prodigal to come home. He has removed that tree that’s blocking the way to returning home to your heavenly Father. Are you traveling that way? Have you put your trust in the one who is crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life? Friends, the repentance required to remove obstacles standing in the way to our return to God is a repentance that is rooted in a contrite and lowly spirit. And that contrite and lowly spirit is something that we cannot work up within ourselves in our own fallenness, in our sin, in our rebellion.

    No, my friends. that lowly and contrite spirit is that which the Holy Spirit produces in the hearts of those who are born again. And that leads me to my next point as we move on in our passage to verses 15 and 16, as we consider the holy God and the humble heart. In verse 15, It says this, for thus says the one who is high and lifted up. Again, this reminds us that this is God’s Word. Thus saith the Lord is found in the Old Testament multiple times, hundreds of times. And so the Old Testament, the all of Scripture, contains God’s signature, if you will. This is the Lord speaking by His Spirit through the prophet Isaiah. For thus says the one who is what? High and lifted up. Notice how God is described. He describes Himself as the one who is lofty.

    He is high. He is lifted up. Not only that, He inhabits eternity. which is a figure of speech to say that he is eternal. He does not exist in the realm of time like you and I do. We are creatures. We always will be creatures. Even in glory, we will be creatures bound by a sense of time, of succession of events. God, however, is above and beyond time, space, and matter, because he is the eternal self-existent one. What a glorious, majestic, awesome God he is. He says, I dwell in the high and holy place. Holy means set apart. He is distinct from, transcendent over us. And yet, here’s the amazing thing. I dwell in the high and holy place, and also, with the great and mighty of the earth, With the proud rulers of the earth?

    No. And also with Him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. The Lord who inhabits eternity also graciously dwells with those who are of a repentant broken heart. This reminds us of the Beatitudes where Jesus said Blessed are the proud in spirit. No, blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who know their spiritual poverty. Those who know that they are wretches and that their only hope of salvation is in Jesus. Maybe that’s you this morning. Maybe that’s you listening through the internet today. You think, I am such a wretch. I keep messing up. I keep stumbling into sin. Wretched man that I am. That should sound familiar. Paul himself said that in Romans 7. And you say, what hope is there for me? Oh, great hope, great hope, for the Lord promises to dwell among those who are of a contrite and lowly spirit, those who are humbled and broken by their sin.

    Few passages of scripture describe the absolute utter transcendence of God as the one who is high and lifted up more powerfully than this passage does. And what we have here in the wording of this passage, my friends, we have here in this verse echoes of Isaiah’s vision of the glory of God in chapter six, where Isaiah records his call to be a prophet. Let’s go back briefly to look at Isaiah six, verses one through three. Remember this? Isaiah writes this, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw, he has a vision, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, and notice how he describes the Lord, the King, sitting on the throne. He is what? High and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Those are angelic creatures.

    Each had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. And with two, he flew. Even the holy angels, the seraphim, cannot dare to look upon God. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. What a glorious, awesome, majestic, transcendent God we serve, beloved. And yet, this holy, set-apart, lofty, lifted-up God who transcends time itself, the God who inhabits eternity, also graciously stoops to dwell with Him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. And this is not just an emphasis that we find in Isaiah. We find David, in the Psalms speaking this way too. If you go to David’s Psalm of Repentance, Psalm 51, he also speaks of this in Isaiah 51, verses 16 and 17.

    This is David’s prayer of confession as he repented of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. It says this, For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. In other words, my sin is so great that not even a sacrifice on your altars would atone for it. Of course, only the blood of Jesus can atone for his sins and our sins. But then he says this, the sacrifices of God are what? A broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, you will not. despise. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. But then he goes on to say in verse 16, for I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would grow faint before me and the breath of life that I made.

    In other words, God’s anger toward his wayward people is an anger that will not last forever, for he is merciful and he is compassionate. A note important to note that in context of this whole passage, this verse, verse 16, is speaking of the true but wayward people of God, those who are characterized by a lowly and contrite heart. He’s not speaking here of the hardened, arrogant, wicked who are proud and impenitent and settled in their sin. He’s speaking of those whom God in his sovereign grace has granted a contrite and humble spirit. So what are some of the takeaways that we can glean from this portion of our passage for today? Well, first of all, friends, as I’ve already mentioned, remember that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are told this by James.

    In James 4, 4 through 10, James brings this out. And James doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s very direct. He says this, beginning in James 4, verse 4. He says, you adulterous people, Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he’s made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And how are we to respond to this truth? Well, he goes on to say in verse seven, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

    Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. What this teaches us, among other things, is that a heart of stubborn, hardened, settled, self-assured pride simply cannot coexist alongside of a heart of true, saving faith. Now, true believers struggle with all kinds of sins, including the sins of pride, stubbornness, hardness of heart, and so forth. But if you’re born again by the Holy Spirit, God has infused within your soul a basic contrition a desire to be pleasing to your heavenly Father. And so though you may continue to struggle with pride and self-righteousness and hardness of heart, the Spirit who dwells in you will work on you and will humble you before the Lord.

    That being the case, let us humble ourselves before God and manifest this humble and contrite spirit that is ultimately the gift of God. But again, we learn in this passage that though God is the lofty one who inhabits eternity, Yet He graciously chooses to make His dwelling among the meek and lowly, those who trust in Him. This gracious condescension of God was ultimately exemplified and manifested, of course, in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Word who was made flesh. As we’re told, remember, in John chapter 1, verse 1, it says, in the beginning was the Word. That’s Jesus. That’s the Logos, the eternal Word. And the Word was with God, distinct from God the Father, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made, and so forth.

    But then you skip down to verse 14. And the Word did what? Became flesh and dwelt among us. That doesn’t mean that he stopped being God, but that he added to himself our humanity. He came down to our level. He condescended. The one who is high and lofty and lifted up and inhabits eternity took upon himself our humanity in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, made His tabernacle among us. And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And so, beloved, let us look to Him. He is God incarnate. And in him, in union with him, God makes his dwelling among us. And so what is the conclusion of all of this? Well, this leads me to my final point, as we consider briefly verses 17 through 21.

    We consider here the peace of the restored and the turmoil of the wicked. The peace of the restored and the turmoil of the wicked. It says this in verse 17, because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I was angry. The Lord’s explaining the chastisement that he brings upon the backslidden people of God. He says, Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I was angry. His covetous gain. I struck him. I hid my face and was angry. And he learned, right? Israel learned from my corrective chastisement? No. It says, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. Our sin is a stubborn thing. And in our fallenness, we continue to want to go on in that way. But here’s the good news for the backslider. Verse 18, I have seen his ways, but I will heal him.

    I know, I know his backslidden ways. I know his wayward heart, but I will heal him. I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners. This is a gem of a passage in its extolling of God’s amazing grace toward unworthy sinners. In spite of Yahweh’s corrective chastisement, the people went on backsliding in the way of their own hearts. But this healing and restoration is solely due to God’s sovereign undeserved grace, a grace by which the Lord is able to humble, heal, and restore even the persistent backslider. And if that is you, if you’re a persistent backslider, there is yet hope for you, dear friend. Return to the Lord with a humble and contrite heart, and cast yourself upon his mercy, and he will give you peace. As it says, the Lord will restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips.

    Peace, peace to the far. and to the near. Again, the peace, peace of the restored is here set in sharp contrast to the no peace of those who remain proud and settled and unrepentant in their wickedness. So we contrast verse 19 with verses 20 and 21, where it says, but the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. In verse 19, The Lord says, peace, peace to his people, whether they be far or near. But then in verse 21, there is no peace to the wicked, that is to those who are settled and unrepentant in their sin. But this peace that God promises is to the far and the near. What’s he talking about?

    While in the immediate context of this passage and the historical context of Isaiah’s time, this may refer to the people of God both within the promised land and those who are dispersed abroad, perhaps through the Babylonian exile, but ultimately this points to the gathering in of both Jews and Gentiles to faith in Christ, and thus gathering in of Jews and Gentiles from around the world into the kingdom of the promised Messiah, Jesus our Lord.” The Apostle Paul alludes to our passage for today in Ephesians chapter 2. If you look at Ephesians 2 and verses 17 and 18, Ephesians 2, 17 and 18, we read these words, Remember what Isaiah says, peace, peace to the far and to the near, says the Lord. What does Paul write under the Spirit’s inspiration? Verse 17, and he came, Christ came, and preached peace to you who were far off, that would be to you Gentiles, and peace to those who were near, that would be the Jews.

    For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. Praise be to God. And so this is the hope, this is the peace that is declared through the gospel. But this passage, which is so filled and so saturated with comfort, ends on a note of warning in verses 20 and 21. But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. What’s he speaking of here? Well, this picture of the wicked as a tossing sea, which is never tranquil or still, never at rest, this is perhaps intended as a fitting picture of the inner psychological churning of an ever-accusing guilty conscience. You ever done something really wrong, and your conscience is just eating at you? It won’t give you any rest. And inside, you’re in turmoil.

    You’re churned up inside. by the accusing guilty conscience that you have brought upon yourself. Well, friends, only by resting in penitent faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ and finding our peace in Him, only that can settle the tossing tumultuous sea of an accusing conscience. Just as our Lord Jesus, remember, He calmed the storm. He did it simply by speaking a word. By His Word and by His presence, He calmed the storm. So, our Lord can also calm our guilty consciences. How? by the power of his gospel word and spirit, by the good news that in Christ, believer, your sins are forgiven fully, freely, graciously forgiven. And that is what we are about to celebrate as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together. As the Lord, through this visible sermon of the Lord’s Supper, declares to you and to me, dear brother, sister in Christ, I love you.

    My body was broken for you. My blood was shed for you. You are mine. Rest in my grace. That is, in essence, what the Lord is saying to us in the Holy Supper. So again, let us rest in him. Let us once again take to heart those very familiar words that our Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew 11, beginning at verse 28, where Jesus says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus doesn’t want to add to our burdens. He wants to bear our burdens, and praise God, He bore the burden, the sin burden of His people on the cross, and He bore our sins away.

    Friends, our holy God, the transcendent Lord who inhabits eternity, graciously chooses to dwell among the humble and contrite. What a comfort to know that in spite of all of our sin, in spite of all of our waywardness, in spite of our backslidings and faithlessness, Our gracious Heavenly Father promises and delivers peace, inner healing, restoration, eternal salvation to all of those who repose their confidence in Christ, our faithful Savior. He is the holy God who dwells among those who, by His grace, have a lowly and contrite heart. as those who know ourselves to be sinners and who know Christ as our only hope of salvation, as our perfect Savior. We have no other comfort in life or in death but the knowledge that we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And He will dwell with us and we with Him forever, for He is our journey’s goal and our journey’s end.

    And in Him, all obstacles are removed. Praise God. Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, We thank you that though you are so glorious, so high and lifted up, you come to dwell among us. We thank you for Christ who came to bear our sin, taking upon himself our own humanity to bear our sin on the cross. And we thank you that by your spirit, you come through the gospel to dwell among us as we receive you by faith, a faith which you yourself create in our souls by the work of your spirit. And so, Lord, we ask that these truths would resonate with our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Friends, let us respond to what we’ve heard by rising and we’ll sing hymn 480, I Have No Other Comfort, 480. you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • A Monument, a Name, and a Place for the Outsider

    A Monument, a Name, and a Place for the Outsider

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 56 promises the foreigner and the eunuch, outsiders under the old covenant, a monument and an everlasting name in God’s house when they join themselves to the Lord and keep his Sabbaths. The Sabbath is both a creation ordinance binding on all people and a covenant sign that pictures resting in Christ alone, and the Lord’s Day still orders the rhythm of a believer’s week. Race, ancestry, marital status and the ability to have children exclude no one from Christ’s kingdom; only unbelief and impenitence do. The Lord declares that he will gather yet others besides the outcasts of Israel, Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch shows the promise fulfilled, and the church in this age of ingathering faces outward.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue on in our consideration of various passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this morning we find ourselves in Isaiah 56, verses 1-8. I’d encourage you to follow along in your Bibles. The Pew Bible, you’ll find that on page 732. Isaiah 56, verses 1-8. Friends, this is the Word of God, so let’s hear it with reverence and awe. Thus says the Lord. Keep justice and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people.

    And let not the eunuchs say, behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

    The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, your word is powerful, for Lord, By your creative word in the beginning, you brought all things into being. You spoke the word of creation, and all things came into being out of nothing. You have spoken your word of grace into our souls, and by the Spirit through the gospel, you have brought us to newness of life in Christ Jesus. And you have also inspired, breathed out by your Spirit, your inscripturated word, which is indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide to our way.

    We would ask, O Lord, that by that same Spirit who breathed out the Word, that You would indeed illuminate us by Your Spirit as we consider this portion of Your Word. We ask that You would open our eyes to behold wondrous things from Your Word, that we might see the relevance and the significance of this passage for our lives as individual believers and for the life of the church today. We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, Amen. Dear friends, you may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is A Monument, a Name, and a Place for the Outsider. And I’d like to encourage the young people to listen for these four key words. The words are Sabbath, sign, covenant, and gathered. Well, dear ones, a very common hunger within the human heart is the hunger for significance.

    We have within our hearts a deep hunger for significance, meaning that we want to matter. We want our lives to make a lasting impact. We want to be remembered. Another way of putting it is to say that we want to leave a legacy. Now, from a biblical perspective, this makes perfect sense. For after all, God’s Word, the Bible, teaches us that God created us in His image and that the Lord has put eternity within our hearts. And now, of course, our sinfulness and rebellion against our Creator have led us to distort this hunger for significance and have pushed it in a negative and self-serving direction. But nevertheless, the hunger for significance still remains, even in our fallen sinful hearts. That’s why so many seek to make a name for themselves. And it helps to explain why it is customary in many cultures throughout the world to mark the graves of the dead with stone monuments, stone monuments indicating permanence.

    I don’t know about you, but on those infrequent occasions when I find myself in a cemetery, I will especially notice the big, impressive, and ornate monuments, sometimes weather-worn and cracked by time, but silently announcing to future generations, I was here. I mattered. I had a name. I left a legacy. While stone monuments can serve to symbolize the name and legacy of a departed loved one, Many seek to actually build a name and a legacy through their children, their offspring. In fact, in Old Testament times, this is how you would propagate your name and legacy to future generations within the promised land and within the inheritance that God had given to you. And this is one of the reasons, friends, why barrenness was considered to be so utterly tragic among the Old Testament people of God.

    It also helps us to understand the predicament of the eunuch, of someone who is physically incapable of having children. How were they to have a place and a name among God’s people and within the inheritance of God’s promised land if they were incapable of propagating offspring who would continue to occupy the inheritance of their fathers in that promised land? Like the Gentile foreigner, the eunuch in Old Testament times was an outsider, was one who had no place or name among God’s covenant people or within God’s promised land. However, friends, in this wonderful prophetic passage of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit, through the prophet, promises that those who are outsiders, such as foreigners and eunuchs, that a new order is coming. a new messianic order where even those who had formerly been outsiders, like foreigners and eunuchs, would have a lasting name and place and legacy within God’s house, provided they cling with loyal trust to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, a loyalty which is expressed through the keeping of the Sabbath.

    Again, as we’re told, in verses three through five. The Lord says, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord, in other words, who has been converted to faith in Yahweh, the true and living God, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree. In other words, like a dry tree incapable of producing fruit, I’m incapable of producing offspring. Here’s the words of comfort, verse four, for thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenants, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

    And so all of this leads us to, first of all, consider the significance of Sabbath-keeping, since that is a prominent theme that the Lord uses in this passage to describe those who have turned and been converted in faith to the true and living God. So we consider, first of all, from verses 1 and 2, Sabbath-keeping as a covenant sign and a paradigm of piety. Let’s consider Sabbath-keeping as a covenant sign and paradigm of piety. Again, let me turn your attention to the first two verses of our passage. This passage starts off as passages in Isaiah and in the prophets often do. by saying, thus says the Lord, Yahweh, the Lord, the covenant God of Israel. This is not the word of man. This is not the expression of the religious experience of the Israelites. This is not man’s word.

    This is God’s word. That is the claim that is being made here. Thus says the Lord, this is what Yahweh says, keep justice and do righteousness for soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. Now we have been considering in this latter section of Isaiah, we’ve seen much in the way of pointing forward to the days of the Messiah, the New Covenant era. and so much in the way of messianic prophecy, and that continues on in this passage. And the salvation that will come, the righteousness that will be revealed according to verse 1, what is this referring to? This is referring ultimately to the ultimate salvation that would be brought in by the promised Messiah, Jesus our Lord. So it is pointing us forward to the messianic era in view of the fact that God’s Messiah is coming, that he is on the way, Given that fact, the people of God in Isaiah’s time were to respond by keeping justice and doing righteousness.

    And of course, justice and righteousness are not defined by man’s ideas or man’s thoughts, but by the law of God. And then a blessing is pronounced. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Now again, we need to remember the overall setting and context of our passage. In the previous chapter, you may recall, the Lord had issued a gracious gospel invitation to faith and repentance. For example, back in chapter 55, verse 1, the Lord had said, come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. This is a gospel invitation that emphasizes the freeness of God’s grace of salvation.

    This is an old covenant way of issuing the gospel call. And we see this gospel call to faith and repentance also highlighted in chapter 55, verses 6 and 7. where the Lord says, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Now let me say that there are some higher critical or skeptical scholars of the Bible who see a disconnect between chapter 55 and chapter 56. They say, well, chapters 40 through 55 is filled with comfort, with gospel hope, but here in chapter 56, we must have a different author here, Trito Isaiah. This supposedly anonymous author is sometimes called by the critical scholars.

    Why? And they say, well, obviously this is legalistic. He’s talking about doing righteousness, keeping the Sabbath, and so forth. But no, this is not a transition from gospel to law. This is not a transition from free grace to legalism. No. The theme of God’s graciousness is continued on in this chapter, and the symbol of that is the Sabbath. For the Sabbath, ultimately, in terms of its spiritual meaning, points us to rest in the promised Messiah. But again, as I said in the previous chapter, the Lord had issued a gracious gospel invitation to faith and repentance. Chapter 56 does not contradict that, but rather affirms that this gracious promise extends even to those who were typically excluded from the covenant community and from corporate worship under the old covenant economy. And therefore, we should regard this passage in chapter 56 as a prediction of realities that would arrive with the coming of Jesus the Messiah and the new covenant order that He would bring about.

    The conversion of these formerly excluded individuals is indicated by their faithful observance of the Sabbath. But that leads us to the question. What is the Sabbath? In our Reformed tradition, we rightly, our confessional tradition rightly identifies the Sabbath as what we would call a creation ordinance and a moral law of God. And so that raises the question though, well, is the Sabbath a creation ordinance? binding upon all people everywhere, or is it a covenant sign with special reference to God’s people? And the answer to that question is yes. Yes. It’s not an either-or thing. It’s a both-and thing. You see, there is a moral principle that undergirds the Sabbath commandment, and that’s why it’s included among the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments, written on stone, spoken by the voice of God, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone rather than on the ancient equivalent of paper, what does the stone writing indicate?

    Permanence. The Ten Commandments are set apart from the other ceremonial and sacrificial laws of God. They are set apart by the method of their propagation. The Lord’s audible voice speaking them to the gathered people of Israel, writing them with His, supernaturally writing them with His finger on tablets of stone. The moral aspect of the Sabbath command is indeed binding on all people in all ages. And what is that moral principle? Well, the moral principle of the Sabbath is that, in the words of our confession, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God. And also that we should, in the words of our shorter catechism, keep holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word. We were created in God’s image, we were created to glorify and enjoy God forever, and that requires us to set aside special times appointed by God for worship and for rest from our daily labors.

    And we call this a, this moral aspect of the command, we call the Sabbath command a creation ordinance because God himself at the very beginning propagated the Sabbath pattern. in his works of creation. If you go back to Genesis 2, this very familiar passage in Genesis 2, Let me just read verses 1 through 3. It says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. We have the creation week presented in chapter 1. And then notice what it says in verses 2 and 3. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. Let me just make a side comment here. When it says that God rested, It doesn’t mean that he got worn out.

    He got wore out by all that work of creating the universe and boy was he pooped and he just needed to take a nap. No. He rested. His rest is analogous to, not identical to, but analogous to human rest. He rested, he took pleasure in what he had done. And he did so on the seventh day. But what does it say next in verse three? So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, set it apart. Who did he set it apart for? For himself? He set it apart for us. Because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. So we see the Sabbath is grounded in the very created order itself. It is a creation ordinance binding upon all people at all times with respect to its moral nature and moral principle.

    But at the same time, for God’s people, the Sabbath has a special meaning in that it serves not only as a binding moral duty, it is certainly that, but as a covenant sign with special gospel significance for God’s people. This is where the both and comes in. We see evidence, indeed proof of this, if we turn to Exodus 31, let me read verses 12 through 17. Exodus 31, verses 12 through 17. It says this, and the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths for this is what? This is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death.

    Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever.” It’s a covenant sign. with respect to its reference to the people of God. Verse 17, it is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. You see, as a covenant sign, the Sabbath is a wonderful picture, a wonderful emblem of that gospel faith which rests in Christ alone for salvation.

    You know, sometimes we grumble about the Sabbath. We grumble about the Lord’s Day. We say, well, why can’t I do my own thing on Sunday? You know, Sunday is supposed to be my fun day. Why can’t we do our own thing? But actually, put yourself in the sandals of the ancient Israelites who had been enslaved under Pharaoh in Egypt. enslaved for generations. If you were a slave in Egypt, you didn’t have a day off. You didn’t have a day of rest. But now the Lord graciously rescues his people and brings them to the foot of Mount Sinai. And one of his commands is, you are to rest. What a blessing. What a gift and what a picture of gospel faith that we are called upon in the gospel to rest in Christ. That physical rest of the Lord’s Day is meant to point us to the spiritual rest that Christ in the gospel invites us to.

    And I believe that that is what is alluded to here and is in the backdrop here of Isaiah’s references to the Sabbath. This ultimately points to the gospel. Not only that, but observing the Sabbath or Lord’s Day helps us to orient the flow of our lives on God and on his word, his law, his Torah, his covenant instruction. If you have a pattern in your life of week in and week out, gathering with God’s covenant people at church, That has a way of shaping your life. It shapes your schedule, it prioritizes things in your life, and that is one of the reasons why it is such a commendable practice. Aside from the fact that God commands it, it is for our good. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, as Jesus pointed out.

    The Pharisees and the scribes Turn the Sabbath into a legalistic burden, whereas we are to call the Sabbath a delight. It is indeed a delight. It’s a delight, isn’t it, to gather week in and week out with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to receive, to drink deeply of the waters of grace that are offered by the Word and the sacraments and in the context of worship. What a blessing the Lord’s Day is. And it is an appropriate covenant sign of the believer’s relationship with God, and thus it is a paradigm that pictures true godliness and piety. And it is in this latter sense of a covenant sign, the Sabbath as a covenant sign and an emblem, a paradigm of piety, that Isaiah is picturing the Sabbath here in this passage. As a covenant sign, the Sabbath serves as a paradigm for keeping justice, doing righteousness, and keeping one’s hands from evil.

    In other words, it is a paradigm of godliness and obedience to the word. So when he says, blessed is the man who does this, the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil, he’s not just speaking about the ritual observation of the Sabbath day. He’s talking about the covenant life. He’s talking about life in covenant union and communion with Yahweh, the faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. What are some of the takeaways that we can get from this first point? Well, let me ask you, dear listener, have you entered into the salvation rest that is symbolized by the Sabbath or Lord’s Day? It’s interesting, under the old covenant, those who refused to keep the Sabbath Through physical rest, that incurred the death penalty.

    Thankfully, there’s no death penalty for Sabbath desecration today under the new covenant. A lot of people would lose their lives today because of that, if that were the case. But there is a truth that still carries on, and that is if you refuse to rest in Christ and instead rest in your works and your own labors, Well then, the ultimate death penalty is coming. For apart from Christ and resting in him, there is no salvation. Have you entered into the salvation rest that is symbolized by the Sabbath or Lord’s Day? If not, come to Jesus today. Jesus invites sin-weary, his sin-weary creatures. He says, come to me, all who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest the load of your sin upon Christ who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that all who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life.

    But if you have rested in Christ for your salvation, let me ask you, does the Sabbath or Lord’s Day orient and center the rhythm of your life in Christ? Is your life centered on and looking forward to the weekly gathering and fellowship of God’s people? Sabbath, when I was coming to Sabbath convictions in seminary, I was resistant at first. It seemed burdensome, but then as I reflected more, I realized what a blessing, an opportunity, a weekly opportunity to be refreshed, to set aside my daily worries and labors and to set my focus on the things that ultimately matter. And so the Lord’s Day has come to orient me and prepare me for service in the week ahead. And as I make my way through the week, I can look forward to gathering once again in the presence of the Lord with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

    That’s the way it ought to be for us. Let us seek, by the grace of God, to orient and center the rhythm of our lives in Christ by faithfully observing the Lord’s Day week in and week out. But as we move on in our passage for today, we also read in this passage of new covenant inclusion, inclusion that would include the foreigner and even the eunuch. Let me again read verses four through seven. It says, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. I mean, just to intersperse a comment here. Oh, I’m not of Jewish stock. I don’t have the right racial or cultural or ethnic background. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree. I can’t have offspring.

    How can I enjoy the inheritance in the promised land? For thus says the Lord, to eunuchs, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, eunuchs who rest in the Lord and express that rest by keeping the Sabbath, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. You know, some of the higher critical scholars interpret this literalistically that, oh yeah, there will come a time, the prophet is saying there will come a time when a literal monument, like the stone monuments you see in cemeteries, will be erected in the house of the Lord. What good would that do? This is ultimately pointing to heavenly realities. What is the ultimate house of the Lord? What is the ultimate temple of the Lord?

    It is Christ. And in union with Christ, it is his church. And it is referring to heavenly realities. This language here, he’s using Old Covenant language to describe New Covenant realities as many of the prophets, the Old Covenant prophets had to do. They had no other language available to them but Old Covenant language. This is ultimately pointing to eternal life. He’s basically saying for those who rest in the Lord, who bind themselves in covenant to the Lord, by grace through faith. They will dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore. He says, I will give even the eunuch a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. They shall be remembered in everlasting remembrance. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, these Gentile outsiders, They join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants.

    Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” This was quoted In the passage from Mark that Pastor Isaiah read earlier in the service, the court of the Gentiles had become a dirty, smelly, noisy marketplace instead of a place of prayer for the Gentiles. And Jesus was angry with that because he came to redeem sinners, not just from among the Jews, but from among the Gentiles as well. And so the house of the Lord should be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Friends, this is an astounding promise here.

    For under the Old Testament administration, certain individuals were excluded from formal membership in the visible people of God. And they were excluded temporarily for various symbolic and ritual reasons. And therefore, under that old covenant administration, these individuals were excluded from membership among the covenant people and from the corporate worship that took place in the temple. We see this, for example, laid down in Deuteronomy 23, verses 1 through 3. Deuteronomy 23, verses 1 through 3. It says this, no one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. It’s obviously referring to eunuchs. No one born of a foreign union, a forbidden union, may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord.

    Even to the 10th generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way and so forth. Now, the fact that these restrictions were not ultimately intended to be permanent or absolute can be seen from the book of Ruth. Ruth, after all, What was she? She was a Moabitess. She was from Moab. But she said, she said to her mother-in-law, your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. She was truly converted, and by the grace of God, she was welcomed. And she became an ancestress to King David. King David had Moabite blood flowing through his body because of his ancestry from Ruth the Moabitess, and ultimately, She was an ancestor of Jesus himself, great David’s greater son.

    So all of this points to the fact that these restrictions were ultimately to be temporary. When it says that this will be forever, that means permanently at this point in redemptive history. Sometimes in the context of biblical passages, forever does not mean forever, forever. But in any case, under the New Covenant order that Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, envisions here in our passage, those who were once excluded, such as certain foreigners and eunuchs, are openly and warmly welcomed in. This is, again, to be understood as a prophecy of the Messianic New Covenant era. Now, what can we take away from these verses? by way of application. Well friends, if this passage teaches us anything, it teaches us that providential factors such as your race, your ethnicity, your pedigree, your family background, or other physical factors such as the inability to have children, these factors will not exclude anyone from the kingdom of Christ.

    The only factors that will exclude you from Christ’s kingdom are unbelief and impenitence. And so the issue is not, where do you come from? The issue is not, what is the color of your skin? The issue is not, are you married or are you single? And if you’re married, can you have children? That’s not the issue. The issue is, Have you by faith joined yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ as he is freely offered to you in the gospel? This is a message that especially needs to be emphasized today as we are seeing new forms of racism raising their ugly heads even within supposedly reformed communions such as kinism and so-called race realism. Christ died for sinners of every tribe, tongue, people, and language, every race, every gender, male and female, the only two genders there are, and so forth.

    If by the grace of God you are resting in Christ for your salvation, which is pictured by Sabbath rest, then you have a monument, you have an everlasting name in God’s eternal kingdom. You have a true spiritual legacy that can never be cut off. Praise God, that’s good news. And if you are truly in Christ, then be assured that you are included in the covenant and kingdom of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that leads us to our final consideration in verse 8, that outcasts and foreigners will be gathered in. Let us consider finally, outcasts and foreigners gathered in. Verse 8, the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel, such as those coming back from the Babylonian exile in the post-exilic community. The Lord God who gathers the outcast of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.

    In this climactic verse, not only does Yahweh promise to gather into his kingdom the outcasts of Israel, such again as those among his people who would return from Babylonian exile, and those whom our Lord Jesus in his own day called the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in addition, in the new covenant messianic age, the Lord promises, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. In the context of this passage, the most natural identification of these others would include those who had previously been excluded under the old covenant order, such as foreigners and eunuchs. In other words, this passage predicts that in the new order that the promised Messiah would usher in, those who had previously been outcasts and foreigners would be gathered in to be members of the kingdom and family of God.

    In this new covenant order, both Jews and Gentiles who believe would be gathered into the kingdom of Christ. Our Lord confirms this reality in John 10, 16. Why don’t you turn there for a moment as we wrap things up. John 10, verse 16. This is the Good Shepherd discourse. Let me start reading at verse 14. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And notice verse 16. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. He’s talking there about the Gentiles. He’s anticipating the Gentile ingathering of the new covenant. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock.

    One shepherd. There’s not going to be a separate Jewish church and a separate Gentile church, which is, as an aside, one of the reasons why we should reject the schism of Messianic Judaism. The church is Jews and Gentiles together who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, my friends, we see that our Lord Jesus predicts this. In this climactic verse, we are pointed to these new covenant realities. So what does this instruct us as we close our time in the Word today? What does this teach us? First of all, beloved, this passage reminds us of the fact that this present age of redemptive history in which we live, this age between the comings of Christ, between our Lord’s first advent and his future glorious second advent, we live in this age between the ages.

    And what is the fundamental characteristic of this present age of redemptive history? Well, this is the age of worldwide ingathering. Has that hit you? This is not the time for us to be insular. This is not the time for us to be ingrown. Certainly we come together for mutual fellowship and encouragement and refreshment and sort of a break from the workaday world. Yes, that is true. But we do not come together to hold off and keep ourselves separate from unbelievers. We want to welcome unbelievers in that they too might hear the gospel and become part of the family of God. We live in a missionary age. where the Lord Jesus through his visible church is gathering in the elect from around the world as the church faithfully fulfills the Great Commission. And that means that the basic posture of the Church of Jesus Christ is to be outward facing, not navel gazing.

    It is to be outward focused, not ingrown. May the Lord use us at Grace Church as agents of this great in-gathering. But you may ask, well, we’ve seen this prophecy. Is there any indication of a fulfillment? Well, I will leave you with a passage from the book of Acts, Acts 8, verse 26 to 39. Our passage for today, indeed, has a biblical fulfillment, a very explicit, specific fulfillment. It’s not the only fulfillment of it, but it is an indication that the Lord is, indeed, keeping his word. Acts 8 beginning at verse 26. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he arose and went, and there was an Ethiopian, that’s a foreigner, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

    He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?

    Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, They came to some water, and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. This unnamed but obviously politically important eunuch here in this passage, he has a memorial, he has a monument, a name, a place in God’s eternal kingdom. And if you share his faith by the grace of God, you too will. Praise be to God.

    Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you that in Christ you have given us significance, that in Christ we have a place and a name, in Christ we have a home, in Christ we belong. We ask, Lord, that these truths would resonate with our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together number 419, O Zion haste, your mission high fulfilling. 419.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • God’s Effective Word

    God’s Effective Word

    About this sermon

    As rain and snow water the earth and bring forth seed for the sower and bread for the eater, God’s word goes out from his mouth and accomplishes what he purposes; it never returns to him empty. The word often works slowly and beneath the surface. It brings the elect to conversion and growth, and it confirms the impenitent in the hardness they choose, as Paul calls the gospel a fragrance from life to life and from death to death. That confidence should make the church bold in evangelism when its witness seems to fall on deaf ears. Verses 12 and 13 picture the exiles’ joyful return and point beyond it to the new creation Christ secures, where cypress and myrtle replace thorn and briar as an everlasting sign for the Lord’s name.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. consideration of various passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this evening we consider Isaiah 55, verses 10 through 13. Isaiah 55, verses 10 through 15. You’ll find that beginning on page 731 in your pew Bibles. I’m gonna begin reading at verse eight to kind of remind us of the broader context here, but our focus will be on verses 10 through 15 of Isaiah chapter 55. This is the Word of God. Hear it with reverence and awe. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

    For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle. And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of His Word. Our Lord and Father in Heaven, we thank you that you have given us a sure and certain word in the Holy Scriptures, for they are your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word, a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

    We would ask, Heavenly Father, that You would grant us the grace to hear Your Word with faith so that we might, by Your grace, be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We pray that by the power of Your Spirit, You would also grant unto me, Your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth Your Word with clarity, with power, with the assistance of Your Spirit for the edification of Your people, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is God’s Effective Word. And the young people can be listening for two key words tonight, the words word and deliverance. Well, dear friends, as many of you know, throughout the history of fallen humanity, God’s Word has been incessantly mocked, ridiculed, denied, attacked, and more subtly often reinterpreted to fit in with the worldly wisdom of unbelieving culture and unbelieving philosophy.

    Of the many biblical doctrines that are routinely attacked by the forces of skepticism, unbelief, and compromise, a central target of skeptical attack is often doctrines connected to the Bible itself. Doctrines clustering around what the scriptures teach about itself. Doctrines such as the doctrines of the inspiration, the authority, and the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Now friends, historically reformed and evangelical churches and theologians have often been at the forefront in courageously defending and upholding the Bible as God’s inspired, God-breathed, authoritative, inerrant word. By the grace of God and in his good providence, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in her witness for Christ, has been part of this noble tradition of defending and upholding the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Indeed, the OPC was founded due to the efforts of faithful churchmen, such as the late Dr.

    J. Gresson Machin, to defend and uphold the supernatural redemptive Christianity revealed in the Bible, and to defend and uphold the authority of the Bible against the forces of theological liberalism and doctrinal indifferentism, both of which had spread their tentacles throughout the mainline churches, including the mainline Presbyterian Church. But while evangelical and Reformed churches have done a noble job in bearing witness to and maintaining the truths of the inspiration and authority of God’s Word, arguably one possible weakness among otherwise faithful churches today is a neglect to uphold the power and the efficacy of God’s Word. Do we really believe that this this book that we confess to be divinely inspired, breathed out by God, authoritative, divinely authoritative and inerrant, do we really believe that this Word is powerful to do that which God has sovereignly decreed for it to accomplish?

    We in the OPC confess and uphold the truth that scripture as God’s word is indeed divinely inspired and inerrant. But do we also uphold and confess with equal clarity and equal firmness the efficacious power of God’s word to accomplish all that which our sovereign God decrees for it to accomplish? You see, friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day evening not only assumes the divine inspiration and authority of God’s Word as that Word is conveyed through prophets like the prophet Isaiah, our passage for this evening also forcefully declares and presents us with, in beautiful and poetic fashion, the truth that the word of the Lord through the prophets is God’s effective word. A word that serves as a messenger from the Lord, which is sent forth to actually accomplish his sovereign, holy purposes. As we read earlier in this evening’s service from Hebrews 4 verse 12, we are told in that passage, for the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit. of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

    And of course, God’s written, revealed word is able to do that because it reveals Jesus, the divine Logos, the living word of God. And so, as we turn our attention to our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, we are first of all confronted here in this passage with a powerful Word. That’s the first point in your sermon outline as we consider the Scriptures as God’s powerful Word. Listen again to verses 10 and 11. Isaiah writes, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Again, Isaiah is using figurative language and he’s speaking in the language of observation, ordinary everyday observation.

    He’s not speaking in the language of technical science, but what he is saying is true, that indeed the rain and the snow come down from heaven and they produce a harvest. Now, friends, as we seek to understand this passage in its context, we need to remember that through the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah had predicted the Babylonian exile of the people as a divine judgment against them for their faithlessness and for their rebellion against the Lord. But in this latter section of Isaiah, the prophet he foresees in this section that started back in chapter 40 and goes through this chapter, he foresees in this section a time beyond the Babylonian exile. Ultimately, he prophetically foresees the Messianic age, the age that we now live in. In this chapter, the Spirit through Isaiah issues a gospel call for the people to come to the waters provided by the coming Messiah, and also to prepare for Messiah’s coming by seeking Yahweh their God, forsaking their idolatrous ways, and returning in faith to the Lord their God, to Yahweh their God.

    As we considered a number of weeks ago, as we considered the opening verses of this chapter, we saw that those verses are a gospel call given in Old Covenant language as The Holy Spirit through Isaiah says in Isaiah 55 verse 1, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money, without price. It’s by grace. Jesus the Messiah through His Spirit in this passage invites sinners to faith in Himself, the One who is the living waters. And we also saw in verses 6 and 7 recently, we saw that the Lord calls the people to faith and repentance. As it says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

    Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. And so the thrust of this entire chapter is a thrust of mercy and grace. This is a word of mercy. There have been plenty of examples of words of judgment coming from the Lord, but now we have a word of mercy. And this word of mercy to rebel sinners runs counter to the ways that we tend to think about justice and about mercy in our own fallible, fallen human wisdom. Perhaps that’s why the Lord reminds us that His ways and His thoughts are not like our ways or our thoughts, as we read in verses 8 and 9, where the Lord reminds us as His people, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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. This context, my friends, underscores the truth that the Lord’s word referred to in verse 11, where the Lord says, my word that goes out from my mouth, this word is a gospel word. It is a word of grace and forgiveness, a word of restoration and ultimately new creation. And we see that in the language that he uses here. As it says in verse 10, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and so forth. Think about the language that he uses here. He references rain and snow and seed to the sower.

    In this verse and throughout this entire section, Isaiah employs illustrations and analogies from the created natural order, and he does so in order to illustrate spiritual truth, in order to illustrate, in this case, the power and the efficacy of God’s Word. The rain and snow that water the earth have an inherent power in them to bring forth a harvest from the earth. And in a similar manner, God’s word has been infused with an inherent power to accomplish God’s sovereign purposes. Whether we’re talking about his purposes of justice, judgment, and wrath on the one hand, or whether we’re talking about his purposes of grace, salvation, and mercy, as is the case in the context of our passage for this evening. As one commentator puts it, God has given an energy to his word, an energy of its own, as he has to rain and snow, and it will fulfill its purpose as they do theirs.

    And of course, all of this, my friends, is by God’s sovereign design and ordination. So as he uses these very earthy illustrations to demonstrate, or to display rather, the power and efficacy of God’s word, he goes on to say in verse 11, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and so forth, so shall my word be that goes out from what? That goes out from my mouth. And we know that God does not have a physical mouth. But the mouth is connected with speech. And if you speak something from your mouth, it comes from you, not from someone else. There’s no ventriloquism going on here. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

    Imagine how this would have impacted Isaiah’s contemporaries. Now his contemporaries lived before the Babylonian exile, but they had been hearing all of these fearful oracles of judgment, and perhaps some of them who were faithful among the faithful remnant, perhaps they were trembling with fear and wondering, is the Lord abandoning us? Is he abandoning his sovereign purposes? Is he betraying his covenant? The answer is no. There is hope and there is salvation beyond the exile. But this would also be a very encouraging passage for the exiles themselves as they awaited deliverance and a return to the promised land. The Lord is telling them, my word is effective. My word that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty. And again, this is a word of restoration, a word of salvation, a word of grace.

    But notice again the language. Isaiah says, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. You see, even though God communicated His Word through human instruments, such as the prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament, even though God communicates His Word through His prophets and apostles, ultimately His Word originates not from the human prophet or the human apostle, though they are used by Him to convey His Word. but ultimately the Word comes from God’s own mouth. We need to remember that as we read the Scriptures and we read the different portions of Scripture. We see that the human authors express God’s Word in different manners. They each have, you know, you read Mark, Mark has a different writing style than Luke and so forth, but these were holy men of God carried along by the Holy Spirit so that they wrote, though they wrote their words, they wrote ultimately from the mouth of the Lord.

    They were carried along by the Spirit to write precisely what God wanted them to write. And so, though prophets like Isaiah communicated the divine word, the word that they spoke and wrote did not originate from them, but from the mouth of the Lord. Talk about a high view of scripture. Isaiah is saying, look, these are not my thoughts, my speculations, my ideas, no. Isaiah is, in essence, saying, what I’m writing, this comes from the mouth of the Lord. This is the Lord’s word. Ultimately, it is divine speech. And as divine speech, it carries with it divine power and divine efficacy. Just like God’s speech at the beginning of creation. You read Genesis chapter 1. How does God bring about his creation order? By speaking. God spoke and it came to be. Likewise, when it comes to salvation, God speaks His word of grace in Jesus Christ, and it comes to be in His time and in His way.

    As God says in this verse, verse 11, it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose. Friends, God’s word always accomplishes its intended purpose. But some might scratch their heads and say, wait a minute, Pastor. There’s many times when folks hear the Bible, they read the Bible, and it seems to make absolutely no impact upon them whatsoever. As our evangelist Isaiah was sharing with us this morning, in the case of unbelievers who love the praise of men more than the praise of God, the word goes in one ear and out the other. It doesn’t seem to make any noticeable difference in their lives. Well, again, it might appear in the short run that in certain cases, the Word of God fails to accomplish the divine purpose, especially if it doesn’t seem to bear immediate fruit.

    But friends, here’s where the analogy of the rain and the snow is helpful. The rain and the snow that God sends to water the earth do not immediately suddenly produce a crop. It isn’t like it rains and all of a sudden, poof, There’s a field of corn or a field of grain. No, there’s a process that goes on. It’s ordained by God, but it takes place in due time. So gradually, mysteriously, and over time, as God waters the earth, The seed sprouts, and in due time, a well-watered field produces an abundant harvest, provided there are no hindrances to that harvest, like bad soil or pests that eat up the fruit, and so forth. Well, likewise, the message of the gospel often seems to fall upon deaf ears and appears to make no immediate impact. But sometimes the word of God is working beneath the surface in ways that you and I cannot detect.

    In the case of God’s elect, the seed of God’s gospel word eventually does take root in the heart. And as that seed is watered by the word, over time, the spiritual fruit of effectual calling and conversion and sanctification eventually occur. And even in the case of the non-elect, who in their sin hardened their hearts and refused the gospel, even in their case, God’s gospel word still accomplishes God’s sovereign purposes. But in their case, it is a purpose of confirming the unrepentant sinner in his freely chosen sin, confirming the unrepentant in his hardness of heart, and thus ripening the reprobate wicked for the judgment. But either way, God’s Word does not return void, but it accomplishes His sovereign purpose. God’s Word never fails to accomplish that which He ordains for it to accomplish. This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote about the gospel. in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 14 through 17.

    And again, it’s a different context and Paul is dealing with some different issues, but he says this. If you turn to 2 Corinthians 2, let me just read verses 14 through 17. Paul talks about how the Lord leads us in triumph in Christ, and he talks about the gospel and the spread of the knowledge of the gospel. He says this, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are, we, we apostles, we who spread the word, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. And he reflects upon this heavy calling and he says, who is sufficient for these things?

    For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.” Again, Paul clearly believed that the word of the gospel was a powerful efficacious word, even in the case because it spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. Unto those who are being saved, it’s a knowledge of life unto life. Unto those who are perishing, it is a knowledge of death unto death. But it is still the knowledge, the aroma of Christ, and God’s purpose does go forward. Well, what are some of the lessons or takeaways that we can glean from verses 10 and 11? Well, friends, this passage not only reveals the power and efficacy of God’s Word, as I’ve repeatedly said thus far, but think about it, this passage also underscores the great wisdom of our God.

    Our God is so wise in how He communicates to us, His creatures. Think about it. Water and snow, mountains and hills, trees and briars, the human agricultural activities of sowing and reaping. All of these things are features of the created order and of natural life. These are things that the ordinary person is familiar with, especially in the context of Isaiah’s contemporaries in their agricultural setting. They would have been very familiar with the sowing and the reaping, and they would have been very tuned in to the rhythms of nature in terms of rain and sunshine and so forth. How wise our God is in teaching us His truth by means of simple illustrations and analogies taken from the created order, from nature itself. This passage, and many like it, is a very earthy passage. And our God, not to be shocking or blasphemous, it’s not intended that way, but there’s a sense in which our God is a very earthy God.

    He created not only the spiritual realm of angels, but He created the dirt. that gets under your fingernails. He is a God who is willing to get down to our level to communicate His truth to us, and He does so with great wisdom and great beauty as well. Passages like this one underscore the truth that God intends His Word to be understood not simply by highly trained theologians and academic scholars of the Bible. He intends for His Word to be understood by the ordinary, everyday believer. the one who understands these simple illustrations of rain and snow and sowing and reaping and sprouting and so forth. Praise God for that. Praise God that you can be a believer in Christ and be in a saved condition without having to be a Bible scholar. Now we praise God for the gifts that He raises up in His church for those who are gifted as theologians and Bible scholars.

    We benefit from the fruits of their gifts and the fruits of their labors. But praise God that it is simple faith in Christ, childlike faith, that brings us into union with Christ. Indeed, it is union with Christ that brings us to that faith and enables us to believe, and even a child can be called into the kingdom. So again, this passage extols and reveals the wisdom as well as the kindness of our God and his great and gracious condescension to us. But again, We also learn from this passage that this truth, that God’s word is efficacious, this truth, beloved, should give the church boldness in its evangelism as well as encouragement when it seems like our testimony to the word isn’t making an impact. It is frustrating, isn’t it? You’ve had perhaps opportunities to share the gospel in gospel conversations with unbelieving family members or friends or co-workers, and so often you share the word and you can just see their eyes glaze over.

    You can see they’re just checking out. They’re not with you anymore. It doesn’t make an impact. Well, again, It may be making more of an impact than you realize. The spirit works mysteriously and secretly in his timing according to his will. And this should give us great boldness. It should encourage us not to give up but to keep persevering as we bear faithful testimony to Christ and as we confess him before men. So let us be encouraged and let us be bold as a church in fulfilling our mission. But as we move on in this passage, not only do we see that the word of the Lord is a powerful word, we also read here, especially in verses 12 and 13, of desolation reversed and deliverance secured. Desolation reversed and deliverance secured. Verse 12, Isaiah writes, for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Again, clearly he is using poetic, figurative language.

    Trees don’t have hands to clap and so forth. But the point of this illustration is that all of creation will be renewed. in the end. Now, what is the historical background that serves as the backdrop of what Isaiah is writing here? Well, very, very likely the historical background to this passage is the anticipated return of God’s people from their exile in Babylon back into the promised land. And certainly, in the case of the returning exiles, they shall go out in joy. There was great joy among many of them as they were able to return to the promised land. Such going out from Babylon would indeed fill hearts with joy. But the redemptive historical event of the people’s return from Babylonian exile and the joy that it would produce point forward, beloved, to an even greater deliverance and therefore an even greater joy.

    Ultimately, friends, this points to the salvation that would be provided by the one who provides the living waters, the promised Messiah. Ultimately, this points to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the joy of eternal salvation that would be secured by the redeeming work of the promised Messiah. And then it goes on to say, in verse 13, Isaiah writes, instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Again, as we’ve seen in our study of Isaiah, Isaiah in numerous places had predicted desolations against God’s wayward, faithless people. Just to give you a few reminders of that, let’s turn back to Isaiah 5 and let me just read again. from the Song of the Vineyard, verses 5 through 7.

    It’s been a while since we’ve been in that earlier section of Isaiah, but remember these words of judgment, this oracle of judgment that the Lord, through Isaiah, had delivered to his faithless people. It says, and now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed, and briars and thorns shall grow up. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Notice the references to briars and thorns, rain and no rain, and so forth. Verse 7, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting.

    And He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, an outcry. And then skip ahead to chapter 32, verses 12 and 13. Isaiah 32, 12 and 13. where again, this is an oracle of judgment against God’s faithless people, addressing the complacent women in particular. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briars. Yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city, for the palaces forsaken, The populous city deserted, the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks until the spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. You see, the spiritual desolation that occurred among God’s faithless people as they broke the covenant, wandered after the idols of the surrounding nations, and compromised their allegiance to the Lord.

    That spiritual desolation is pictured as impacting the created order itself. And often in scripture, God’s judgment is pictured as a reversing of the original created order and a returning of creation itself to a state of primal chaos. Remember in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it says, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters. And he brought what? He brought order out of the original chaos. Well, oftentimes God’s judgment is pictured as God throwing the creation back into chaos. plunging creation itself into the chaos of his judgment. But here in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the desolation wrought by God’s judgment will be replaced by the majesty, the beauty, and the order of the new creation. And this is pictured here by the replacement of worthless growths like the thorn and the briar with the cypress and the myrtle.

    In the words of Dr. E.J. Young, the noble trees take the place of useless and offensive plants. God’s deliverance of his people through the Messiah will be the beginning of a new creation, a restoration of order after the chaos wrought by sin. And what will be the result of this glorious new creation, this glorious salvation that the Lord will accomplish through his promised Messiah? Well, it says, in verse 13, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And of course, ultimately, that everlasting sign is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We remember His cross work. We celebrate His gospel. Two thousand years later, we’re still talking about what Jesus did to save us from our sins. This is indeed the everlasting sign and the memorial of God’s gracious and great liberation and his restoration of order after the chaos of the Adamic fallen world.

    So friends, just a couple of closing applications here. The scriptures indicate that we believers, we groan inwardly for the new creation to be consummated. We have the beginnings of the new creation in our hearts by the spirit for after all, the Bible says we are new creatures in Christ. If you are in Christ, you are already a new creation. You have already tasted the glories of the age to come and yet you still thirst for that to be consummated because the new creation has broken into this present age in principle at a spiritual level, but then we still see the effects of having to live in a fallen, sin-cursed world. But praise God that the consummated new creation has been secured by the saving work of Jesus the Messiah. And though we groan and suffer in this present age, we await the adoption as sons at the day of resurrection.

    The Apostle Paul reflects upon this reality in that familiar passage in Romans, chapter 8. Let me just read Romans 8, verses 18 to 30. Paul reflecting upon his sufferings, and the Apostle Paul was very familiar with suffering for the Lord. He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

    And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

    For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, He also glorified. Again, speaking of the entire salvation process, including future glorification, as if it’s already happened because it is so certain to happen. Do you, dear listener, have this inward groaning, this inward longing? Have you come to the living waters to the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation from sin? If you are finding yourself hungering and thirsting for righteousness, go to Jesus. And even if you’re not, call upon the Lord to have mercy upon your soul and give you that soul thirst for the Lord Jesus.

    Come to him who was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and raised from the dead for our justification so that all who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Come to the waters of life. Come to Jesus. I began this sermon this evening talking about the importance of confessing and defending the inspiration and authority of the scriptures. And I hope that we will continue, by the grace of God, to do so. But friends, as we confess, uphold, and defend the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of God’s Word, let us also with equal vigor make it our aim to confess, uphold, and defend the efficacy and the power of God’s Word to accomplish all that which God ordains for it to accomplish. And in that confidence, let us live lives of confidence in the power of God’s Word.

    Amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we are thankful and we praise you, God, for the power of your Word and that it is indeed powerful not only to bring us salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit, but powerful to edify us and build us up in faith that we might grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grant, O Lord, that your word of grace would indeed effect grace, salvation, and growth in all of our hearts and lives. Starting tonight and continuing through the rest of our lives. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said Amen As we close our time of worship together, let’s rise and we’ll sing together Psalm 119 e teach me O Lord your way of truth 119 e

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Seek, Forsake, Return

    Seek, Forsake, Return

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 55:6-9 shows what genuine repentance looks like: seeking the Lord while he may be found, forsaking wicked ways and thoughts, and returning to him. Repentance differs from Judas’s remorse, from a change of opinion, and from penance, because only Christ’s sacrifice pays for sin. God owes no sinner an opportunity to repent, so each call to turn comes as an urgent gift of his mercy. To all who return he promises compassion and abundant pardon, and his ways stand as high above ours as the heavens above the earth, high enough to save wretched sinners by grace.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 6 through 9. You’ll find that on page 731 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of His Word.

    Our Lord and Father in heaven, your ways are indeed not our ways, your thoughts are not our thoughts. But Lord, we thank you that you have revealed your ways to us in your word. And we ask that by your spirit you would give us insight into your ways and into your thoughts that we might, by your grace, conform our lives more and more to your word. out of obedience to Christ and His Lordship. Be with us now, Lord, as we consider this passage of Your Word, and grant unto me clarity of thought and expression, that we might hear that which the Spirit is speaking to us in this portion of Your inerrant Word. We pray these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, Seek, Forsake, Return.

    And the key words that the young ones can be listening for today are the words repentance, grace, and ways. Well, dear listeners, we have here in this text of God’s Word this morning a passage that highlights the various elements and the various aspects of genuine repentance. And because of that, that makes this passage highly relevant if we wish to understand what real biblical repentance actually looks like. This passage, my friends, is greatly relevant to our contemporary situation today because it exposes and corrects the many wrongheaded and unbiblical ideas about repentance that one can find today in our contemporary society and even within the walls of the church. Just to give you some examples of such wrongheaded ideas about repentance, For example, it seems that some folks think that repentance involves simply an emotional feeling of regret or an inner sense of guilt.

    And so, for example, you do something bad and you feel bad about it. And many folks might mistake that for repentance. However, friends, the Gospels record that Judas Iscariot felt deep remorse for having betrayed our Lord, but Judas’s remorse led him to despair and ultimately to suicide, not to true repentance unto life. Judas’s remorse was what the Apostle Paul describes, I believe in 2 Corinthians, as a worldly sorrow that leads to death rather than a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and life. And so repentance is not simply feeling bad about doing bad things. On the other hand, there are others who think that repentance is simply an intellectual exercise, a mere change of mind that leads one to see things differently. And sometimes this is based on a certain understanding of one of the Greek New Testament words for repentance, metanoia, which can be translated as a change of mind.

    But while it is true that there is this one Greek word for repentance that can literally mean a change of mind, we need to understand how that word is used in its context and in the biblical context that we find it showing up. And when we consider biblical repentance in its context, we understand that such words contemplate a change of mind that results in a change of direction, a turning from one way of life to a different way of life, a 180 degree turn away from sin and toward God in Christ. Still others confuse biblical repentance with the Roman Catholic practice of penance, which they believe to be a sacrament, a practice where one not only confesses one’s sins to a human priest and receives absolution, but one is also called upon to perform works of penance that are believed to somehow contribute to atoning for one’s sins.

    But friends, God’s Word says that only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross can pay the penalty for sin. An ocean of tears and a lifetime of good deeds done in penance cannot pay for sin and cannot earn for one eternal life. Only the grace of God and the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins, can atone for our sins, and fit us for heaven. So again, friends, true repentance is not mere outward reformation. It’s not just cleaning up your life on the outside, but leaving the heart untouched. Nor is it a mere emotional regret, nor a mere intellectual restructuring of one’s thinking, a mere change of mind about one’s sin and about God’s grace. What then is genuine repentance, biblical repentance? Well friends, as we see in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, biblical repentance entails a whole-souled turning from sin to God’s mercy offered to sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ.

    It is a change of mind and a turning to the Lord that is wrought in the heart by the Spirit and Word of God, a turning that is produced by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of those who are born again by the Holy Spirit. In the words of our Westminster Shorter Catechism, in answer to question 87, the question, what is repentance unto life? The Bible-based answer to that question is this. Repentance unto life is a saving grace. I’ll pause there. It’s a saving grace. It’s not a human merit or a work that we do to appease the wrath of God. No, repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

    Or to use the words that we find in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, true repentance involves and entails seeking, forsaking, and returning. Now as we turn our attention to our text for this Lord’s Day morning, once again we need to understand this passage as we need to seek to understand all passages of God’s Word that we study. We need to understand this passage in its historical context. And while this is a passage that is certainly relevant for all of God’s people in all ages of human history, it’s important to try to put ourselves in the shoes or in the sandals, if you will, of Isaiah’s contemporaries and try to understand how they would have heard this message from Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 9. So again, we need to understand the historical setting in which the prophet Isaiah ministered.

    And we learn here in this passage, as we consider it in light of its narrower and larger context, that through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Prophecy, remember that Isaiah, through the Spirit of Prophecy, had predicted the Babylonian exile of God’s people for their faithlessness, their covenant-breaking, their idolatry. The people, you see, in Isaiah’s time had been seeking after idols, seeking after the false gods of their Gentile pagan neighbors, instead of seeking Yahweh, their covenant-making, covenant-keeping Lord. However, in this latter section of Isaiah, the prophet not only foresees the Babylonian exile, he sees through the spirit of prophecy beyond the Babylonian exile to the messianic age, the promised Messiah and the messianic age that the Messiah would bring in. And foreseeing that age, Isaiah calls the people to prepare for Messiah’s coming by seeking Yahweh their God, by therefore forsaking their idolatrous ways and returning in true faith to their Lord.

    Now as we turn our attention to the details of our passage for today, the first thing we consider here in verses 6 through 7 is the urgency of repentance. We learn here, we hear in this passage an urgent message. We are confronted with the urgency of repentance. Hear again these words from verses 6 and 7. Isaiah writes, under the Spirit’s inspiration, he says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Let me pause there. Once again, I know I point this out often, but it’s important for us to keep this in mind. You’ll notice in your English translations that word LORD is in all capital letters. That is a an indication from the English translators that they are translating the Hebrew word Yahweh, or sometimes it’s transliterated incorrectly, in my opinion, as Jehovah. But it is the covenant name for God.

    It reminds the people of the God who graciously redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt and brought them into the bond of covenant love with Himself. So they are to seek Yahweh, to seek the Lord. While he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. Again, notice, friends, that the wording of this passage stresses the urgency of repentance. We sinners are to repent by seeking Yahweh the Lord while He may be found, and we are to call upon Him while he is near. What does this language imply? Well, among other things, it implies that God owes no sinner an opportunity to repent. God does not owe you or me opportunities for repentance. That being the case, these words also imply that opportunities for repentance are a divine gift grounded in the mercy and grace of God.

    They are not entitlements owed to rebel sinners. God does not owe any rebel sinner even one opportunity to repent. And if God chooses to give you, in His kind providence, an opportunity for repentance, and you refuse, He has every right to end that opportunity then and there. And so we are urged, seek the Lord while He may be found. The truth of this passage about the urgency of repentance and seeking the Lord and turning to Him while He is available, so to speak, this is a truth that is reflected in numerous passages found throughout Scripture. Let me take you to just a couple passages in the book of Psalms as we turn to Psalm 32, verse 6. Psalm 32, verse 6, which is a psalm, a mask of David. It is a psalm of repentance, and in verse 6, David writes these words.

    Psalm 32, verse six says, therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you. Notice, at a time when you may be found, surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. While he may be found, there are providential opportunities where sinners, touched by sovereign grace, may seek the Lord. And if that opportunity is now, then let the godly, everyone who is godly, offer prayer at a time when the Lord may be found. Or consider this familiar passage in Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11, where after calling the people to worship, the psalmist presses upon the people the need to hear the voice of the Lord and not to refuse His instruction. As it says in Psalm 95, beginning at the end of verse 7, If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massa in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

    For 40 years I loathed that generation and said they are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. the people of Israel who rebelled in the wilderness. They heard the voice of the Lord, but they did not heed the voice of the Lord. And as a result, He abandoned them in the wilderness, or He left them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of their hardness of heart. And we think of the warning. I think of the warning that is given in Proverbs 29, verse one. where Solomon writes, he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck will suddenly be broken beyond healing. This pictures a hard-hearted sinner who receives reproof, who is urged to change his ways, to repent time and time again, but persistently refuses.

    There will come a time when such a one who remains impenitent in their sin will suddenly be broken beyond healing. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul presses upon his readers in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2, he says, Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In fact, why don’t you turn there to 2 Corinthians 5 and let me read beginning at verse 20 through verse 2 of chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 5 beginning at verse 20. Paul, writing of himself and the other apostles as ambassadors of Christ, he says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

    Working together with him then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, that means pay attention. This is important. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In other words, friends, Jesus, the promised Messiah, has come Jesus, the promised Messiah, has ushered in this period of redemptive history when gospel light dispels the satanic shroud of pagan darkness that had covered almost all of humanity prior to the coming of Christ. Now the gospel is going forth. Now sinners are being called to faith and repentance, called into the kingdom of Christ. Now is the day of salvation. And so again, we need to keep all of that redemptive historical perspective in mind as we look at our passage for today, where Isaiah again says, One of the other things that these words imply, especially the statement, Friends, we serve a God who is transcendent.

    While God is indeed transcendent, He is beyond time and space and matter. Indeed, He is the creator of time and space and matter. He is infinitely above His creation. As the theologians put it, there is an infinite distance, ontologically speaking, in terms of His being. There is an infinite distance between God and us, His creatures. But at the same time, while God is transcendent, He is not a far off. But rather, in grace, He has drawn near through Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son, and by the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So He has drawn near to us. He is accessible to all who seek Him. And so again, what is being urged here in verse 6? Isaiah offers this call to repentance, and he says, seek the Lord, seek Yahweh.

    In other words, turn from self-seeking, turn from seeking after idols, whatever form those idols may take, and instead seek the Lord, seek Yahweh. Now notice, he doesn’t say, seek a better way of life, or seek after the God of your own conception, or seek after the deity, the God of generic theism. No. True repentance does not just seek after a God or God generically considered. True repentance is not just becoming religious and seeking a more moral, virtuous way of life. Seek what? Seek Yahweh the Lord. Seek Yahweh specifically, Yahweh being the triune covenant-making, covenant-keeping God revealed in the Bible. The sovereign God who in sovereign grace seeks His own. Later on, the prophet Jeremiah addressing the people of God in their Babylonian exile has similar words and indeed a promise. If you go to Jeremiah 29 and look at verses 10 through 14, Jeremiah writes this.

    For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, that’s how long the Babylonian exile lasted, 70 years. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Not with a divided heart, like you did before, before the exile, when, yes, you sought the Lord, but you also sought the Baals and the Ashtoreths and Marduk and the other gods of the nations.

    No, you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. “‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Seek the Lord while he is found. And then look at verse 7. Isaiah gets more specific. He says, let the wicked forsake his way. He’s addressing the wicked, those who are rebels against God. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Wicked is parallel to unrighteous. This is referring to those who are in rebellion against the righteous God and who thus spurn his holy ways as those ways are revealed in his word.

    And what are the wicked and the unrighteous to do? Well, first of all, they are to forsake the wicked way. True repentance entails and results in both outward reformation, in both forsaking your way, forsaking the sinful, godless way of life, but also it involves an inward change of heart and attitude. For he says, let the wicked forsake his way, that’s his lifestyle as we would call it today, this sinful, godless lifestyle, and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, his attitudes, and so forth. So sinful actions and attitudes must be turned from. They must be forsaken. But not only does repentance mean turning away from the sinful, the wicked, the evil ways and thoughts and attitudes that predominate in the hearts and minds of the unrepentant. True repentance also means returning to the Lord For he goes on to say, let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him.

    By means of repentance, true repentance, the sinner not only turns from sin and wickedness, but turns to the Lord, the true and living God, Yahweh. And friends, this is why repentance and faith, though we can distinguish those two elements of true conversion, repentance and faith are ultimately inseparable. Just like you cannot separate the heads and tails of a coin, you can distinguish the two, but you can’t separate them. They go together. After all, true faith involves turning to Jesus Christ for salvation from sin. Trusting Christ as your Savior from sin implies a forsaking of the sin which you are trusting Christ to save you from. And that involves returning to the Lord. Notice the language of returning. Returning. God did not create us to live away from him, to live east of Eden, to live in exile.

    God created us for his glory and his friendship and to dwell with us and we with him forever. And so, we were created for God. In true repentance, we turn back to the God for whose glory we were created. And this God again, he says, return to Yahweh, to the Lord. Not just return to your own conception of God or turn to a more virtuous, stoic way of living or what have you, no. turn to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the true and living triune God revealed in the Bible. And what is the promise if by the grace of God, the sovereign grace of God, we return to the Lord? Well, that brings us again to verse 7, as we consider promises of grace to the truly repentant, promises of grace to the truly repentant.

    He says, let him return to the Lord that he may, what? Have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are precious promises, precious words. This powerful passage not only contains an urgent call for sinners to repent, a call to seek forsaken return, but it also reveals wonderful gospel promises to those who through sovereign grace truly repent. And what are those promises? The first promise to the truly repentant is divine compassion. The truly repentant returning sinner will find that God receives him with compassion, not in anger or bitterness or rejection or even half-hearted tolerance. But rather, the Lord will receive the returning sinner just like the father in our Lord’s parable of the prodigal son receives the returning prodigal with celebration, with joy, with open arms.

    It’s not that the Lord says, oh, you’re coming back again. You know, you keep messing up, you keep falling, and you want to come back again. I guess I’ll have you back, but, you know, watch it. That’s not how the Lord receives the truly repentant. He welcomes them. He embraces them with divine compassion. He also promises abundant pardon, not just a a half-hearted pardon, but abundant pardon. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Because of what Christ our Savior has done for us sinners in dying on the cross for our sins, the repentant returning sinner will find God to be a God of overflowing grace and abundant pardon. This passage reminds us of the gospel principle revealed in passages like Romans 5.20, where Paul writes that where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

    In fact, let me just read briefly Romans 5, verses 20 and 21. Romans 5.20 and 21. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Dear listener, God’s grace in Christ abounds to repentant sinners who turn to him. Dear listener, have you turned to him? Have you heeded by the grace of God? Have you heeded the urgent call? to forsake your sin, to seek the Lord, forsake your sin, and return to the Lord in repentance. But finally, our short passage for today also highlights Yahweh’s higher ways. Yahweh’s higher ways. The wicked are told to forsake their way, but then the Holy Spirit through Isaiah reminds his readers that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways.

    Verses 8 and 9, for my thoughts, the Lord says to his people, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither 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. How much higher are God’s ways than our ways? The illustration being used, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now friends, appeal is often made to these verses to highlight the general theistic truth that God is transcendent over and above all of his creation and that his ways and thoughts are inscrutable and unsearchable to his limited finite creatures. And of course, this passage does indeed imply the general truth that God is indeed far greater than his creation, far greater than we can even begin to conceive.

    We can only begin to conceive of His infinite greatness. However, at the same time, we need to be sure we interpret these verses in the light of their immediate context. While they do contain generic truth about God and his glorious being, they also contain truth that is related to this call to repentance. And this, remember, this call to repentance in verses six through nine follows the gospel call that we discovered in the first five verses of Isaiah chapter 55. Remember that the statement of these verses is found here in a passage of Isaiah which stresses the free grace of God offered in the gospel and the call to seek Him in true repentance. Within this context of God’s amazing grace and our responsibility to respond to that grace with true faith and repentance, within that context, some have suggested that this passage in verses 8 and 9 is actually focusing on what we might call the scandal of grace.

    In other words, that God’s ways of grace towards sinners who deserve nothing but his holy wrath is something that fallen man cannot even begin to grasp or wrap his or her brain around without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. You see, think about it. Think about how the worldly wise think about justice. The idea of showing mercy, kindness, and grace to the unworthy is offensive to the fallen, natural, self-righteous man. But God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours. And our Lord Jesus revealed the Father’s gracious disposition in His life and ministry. How? Jesus welcomed the despised of society. He welcomed all who recognized their sin, their brokenness, their wretchedness, and therefore their need for Christ’s mercy. And so Jesus welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, and other public sinners who knew their need of him. In fact, that was one of the biggest complaints among Jesus’ enemies.

    This guy hangs out with the wrong people. He welcomes sinners. Ew. Ick. That’s the greatest compliment that you can give to the Lord Jesus. He welcomes sinners. Praise God that he welcomes sinners. That means he welcomes someone like me. But that same Lord Jesus who welcomed wretched sinners who had made a wreck of their lives, that same Lord Jesus also pronounced judgments against the respectable religious, outwardly upright, who were inwardly self-righteous. Jesus rebuked those like the scribes and the Pharisees who were self-righteous, who thought, hey, they looked so noble. They were model citizens on the outside, religious. They had a veneer of respectability, but Jesus knew their hearts. This is indeed the scandal of sovereign grace by which God often chooses to save the wretched sinner who has made a wreck of his life and scandalized and hurt others while at the same time passing by the outwardly noble unbeliever who seems to have his life together and leaving that unbeliever unrepentant in his self-righteous delusions.

    And so we have the scandal of grace. And when we think about God’s scandalous grace, showing mercy to sinners and often passing by those who seem outwardly respectable. That is the scandal of grace. But God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But whether or not this particular understanding of our text is correct, it is indeed true that God’s ways of righteousness and grace are high above all human conceptions. As Dr. E.J. Young writes of this passage, he says, God’s ways and thoughts, unlike those of the wicked, are righteous. And for that reason, the wicked must abandon his own ways and thoughts. God’s mercy and grace are such also as could never have entered the heart of the wicked man apart from special revelation. Hence, the wicked is to leave his own thoughts.

    God’s ways and thoughts are sovereignly efficacious in that they accomplish all that they are designed to accomplish. I don’t understand the ways of the Lord, you might say. I don’t understand how it is that God can show mercy to sinful wretches. Well, that is your only hope. That is my only hope. That is the amazing grace that we sing about. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a good person like me. No, that saved a wretch like me. Again, the Lord says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Let’s trust that God knows best, that his ways and thoughts are correct, and let us seek to learn from the Lord’s word, to think, to let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we might have God’s heart and God’s thoughts as we indeed seek the Lord, forsake our wicked ways, and return in faith and trust. to the true and living God, and to His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

    And all of God’s people said, Amen. Let’s pray. Gracious Lord, Father in Heaven, we do thank you for the grace of Christ our Savior. We thank you that that grace has touched us, wretched sinners though we be. And we thank you that that grace gives us hope. Lord, we know that our repentance does not appease your wrath, and our repentance is so imperfect. but it is a repentance that looks not to ourselves or to our own sorrow or heart dispositions, but rather we look to Christ and Christ alone, to His perfect obedience and sacrifice. May we rest in Him, for that is the whole soul of true repentance, to look unto Christ alone for salvation from sin. In sovereign grace, grant us the grace to continue to cling to Him alone. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

    Well, friends, as we’ve heard the Word preached and as we are preparing to come to the table of the Lord, let’s rise and we’ll sing Hymn 203, According to Thy Gracious Word, 203.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Are You Thirsty?

    Are You Thirsty?

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 55 opens with a universal invitation: everyone who thirsts may come to the waters and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Sinners receive it free because the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 paid its price, and Jesus fulfills the call when he cries, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” God’s sovereign, electing grace and his sincere offer to all belong together, for the Spirit calls the elect through the outward call of the gospel. Hearing that leads to life means listening diligently and inclining the ear, and through the risen Son of David the call reaches nations that did not know the Lord.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    for the reading of God’s Word. My sermon text today, as we continue to make our way through select portions of the prophet Isaiah, is Isaiah 55, verses 1 through 5. I’m going to read the entire chapter. It’s a short chapter to fill out the context a bit, but our focus will be on verses 1 through 5 of Isaiah, chapter 55, and you’ll find that on page 731 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, this is the Word of God. Hear it with reverence and awe. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

    Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

    The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of His Word. Lord, we would ask that you would give us a soul thirst for your word this morning. And we ask that by your spirit, through the word, you would satisfy that thirst and cause us to drink deeply of the waters of life. Cause us to drink deeply of Christ, our Savior, that we might be conformed more and more into his image and might be sanctified and built up in him. Lord, bless your word as it goes forth this day, we pray in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, Are You Thirsty? And I want to encourage the young people to listen for four key words in my sermon today.

    Those words are invitation, listen, witness, and nations. Have you ever been thirsty? Of course, Pastor Jeff, everyone’s gotten thirsty. But I’m not talking about ordinary thirst. Not just thirsty in the sense of ordinary, everyday thirst, but really, desperately, deeply thirsty, such as the kind of desperate thirst that is brought on when you reach the borderline of dangerous dehydration. You ever been that thirsty before? Dear ones, as you may know, the impulse of thirst can be exceedingly powerful. And when you experience this kind of burning thirst, the only thing that you can really think about is quenching that thirst as quickly as possible. Now, we’ve all experienced ordinary thirst many times in our lives. Perhaps you’ve even experienced that thirst today. But there was one time in my life when I believe I experienced the kind of desperate, powerful thirst that I have described to you.

    I was a boy, probably eight or nine years old, and I was visiting my grandparents in Worcester, Ohio during summer break. And one hot, sunny morning, my grandfather, who enjoyed golfing, decided to invite me along with him as he went to the golf course. So he took me along with him. Foolishly, I had neglected to properly hydrate that morning. and we’d taken no water with us. My grandfather was apparently like a camel for the scorching heat on the golf course didn’t seem to bother him in the least. And as we made our way through the course, I was too embarrassed to admit to my grandfather how desperately thirsty I was becoming. At one point during this long morning on the golf course, I remember that we came across a public water fountain, and my heart leaped for joy, and I rushed over to the public water fountain, and I tried to turn it on, only to discover that it wasn’t working.

    The screaming thirst that I experienced during that long, scorching hot summer morning was finally satisfied when we returned home and my kindly grandmother gave me a nice cold glass of orange tang, which I quickly gulped down with great enthusiasm and zeal. And I think she even saw how thirsty I was and gave me another glass. Well, dear ones, in our outer man, we experience physical thirst. But physical thirst is, of course, not the only kind of thirst that human beings experience. God’s Word indicates that there is a spiritual thirst that humanity experiences in its inner man, a spiritual thirst for the transcendent. Scripture reveals that God has created mankind, male and female, after His own image. And He’s created us to enjoy communion with Him, friendship with Him, forever. But sadly, as you know, humanity has fallen into sin and rebellion.

    And one of the results of this sin is that in our fallen, rebellious condition, we are separated from God’s friendship, and thus we are separated from living, loving fellowship with our Creator. This has resulted in an inner longing in our hearts, a longing that is comparable in Scripture to thirst and to hunger. But sadly, in our sinfulness and rebellion, we try to satisfy that spiritual thirst and that spiritual hunger with things that don’t really satisfy in the end. We fill our lives with all kinds of idols instead of turning to the true and living God. You know, God’s Word reveals that there is a way for our desperate spiritual thirst to be quenched and for our spiritual hunger to be satisfied. Scripture teaches that the only way our spiritual thirst can ultimately be quenched and our spiritual hunger truly satisfied is by receiving through faith the Lord Jesus Christ as our very own Lord and Savior.

    For the scriptures reveal Jesus Christ to be the living water and to be the bread of life. Jesus Christ, as he is freely offered to us sinners in the gospel, he is the only one capable of being our true soul food. And his gracious gospel alone can bring spiritual sustenance to the parched soul of a sinner. In our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we find a gracious invitation from God for spiritually thirsty sinners to quench their spiritual thirst with the gospel grace that is offered by the promised Messiah, great David’s greater son, the one whom we know to be our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So as we turn our attention to our text for today, We notice, first of all, the universal invitation of a benevolent God. The universal invitation of a benevolent God.

    Verses one through the first part of verse two says this, come everyone who thirsts. Not just come you among my people who thirst, you who are Jews who thirst. No, come everyone who thirsts. Where are we to come to? Come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. How can we buy something if we have no money? I’ll talk about that in a few moments, but notice come by wine and milk. These symbols of satisfaction and sustenance come by wine and milk without money and without price. And then he interrogates them with an important question. He says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Now friends, it’s important to understand that this portion of Isaiah is well connected with the flow of what has come before it.

    Chapter 55 is connected with the revelations given to Isaiah back in chapter 54 and especially chapter 53. And so seeing the literary and thematic connections of these chapters is very important for understanding what our passage for today is teaching us. And so you will recall, brothers and sisters, the famous messianic prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, a prophecy that had revealed the redeeming work that would be accomplished by the messianic suffering servant of the Lord and the one who would bear the iniquity of many to make atonement for their sins. This prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, of course, was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And the sufferings of Christ on the cross are depicted and prophesied in great detail in that amazing messianic prophecy. chapter 53.

    But then as we also discovered in chapter 54, that chapter predicted the missionary expansion of the New Covenant messianic age, as chapter 54 foresaw a time when God’s covenant mercies would extend to the nations of beyond the borders of Israel, drawing in multitudes from among the Gentile nations who would be added to the ranks of God’s people. And of course, we, brothers and sisters, are part of the fulfillment of that prophecy in chapter 54. But here in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning from chapter 55, it goes beyond just the prediction of the Gentile ingathering into God’s covenant people. Here in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we have an instance of an Old Testament gospel call. as God graciously calls and invites everyone who thirsts in their souls to come to the waters of life that are offered and provided by the promised Messiah, great David’s greater son, the one to whom he is given, as he says in verse three, my steadfast, sure love for David.

    Now Dr. E.J. Young does a good job in reminding us of the historical setting of this passage. He writes, in oriental countries where water is scarce, water is sold by a vendor who calls out, attracting attention to his ware. And so God is compared to such an oriental vendor of water, calling out, crying out for people to come in. But then he goes on to say, it is not physical water, however, of which Isaiah speaks, but like milk and wine, water is a figure of spiritual blessing, the water in particular signifying the spiritual refreshment that is offered. And so we have here, again, a universal invitation. Yahweh the Lord says through His prophet Isaiah, come everyone who thirsts. This is a universal invitation. And brothers and sisters, passages like this one are one of the reasons why we in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church affirm what has been called the free offer of the gospel.

    Now, some of our Reformed brethren, especially those who lean in a more hyper-Calvinistic direction, think that there’s a contradiction between, on the one hand, God’s sovereign, electing, predestinating grace, and on the other hand, the universal invitation. And so there are some who would identify as Reformed and Calvinist who would deny that the gospel call goes out to the non-elect. They would say, only the elect get the call. And they would kind of point out some of the limiting language that we find in these calls, such as everyone who thirsts. And they would say, well, not everyone truly thirsts for God, and so forth. But again, when we compare scripture with scripture, and when we look at the thrust of passages like this one, we see that, indeed, this is a genuine invitation given to all of humanity.

    You see, in Scripture, my friends, the truth of God’s sovereign, particular, electing grace on the one hand, and the truth of God’s universal benevolence toward all, which moves Him to freely and sincerely offer gospel grace to everyone on the other hand, these truths, though they are distinct, they are presented in Scripture as compatible, not contradictory truths. You see, in God’s Word, sovereign particular grace on the one hand, and the universal invitation of the gospel on the other hand, these things go together, even if we can’t figure out how to hold these biblical truths together in our own limited, finite minds. In fact, my friends, while it’s hard for us as finite creatures to understand it, remember that it is through the gospel call that God calls his elect to faith in Christ. The effectual call of sovereign grace comes by means of the universal call, the gospel call, the outward call.

    And so these truths are indeed not contrary, but they are compatible to one another. And we see this language inviting those who thirst to come. We see this kind of language in many places in scripture. Just to give you one New Testament example that I’m sure is very familiar to you folks. In Matthew chapter 11, 28 to 30, the Lord Jesus says this, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle. and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So we have here a universal gospel invitation to everyone who thirsts. But this invitation, this offer, is grounded in God’s free grace.

    And that is also underscored by the language and imagery of this passage. It says, come everyone who thirsts, come to the water. And he who has no money, no resources, no claim upon this water, this spiritual water, this refreshment that is offering, he who has no money, come buy and eat. We have this imagery of eating and drinking and of a purchase taking place, and yet those who are without money can make this purchase. How is that possible? It’s possible because of Jesus. God’s offer is grounded in His free grace. It is without money, without price, not because it is valueless, but because of Jesus. It is free to us sinners, free to us who thirst and hunger. Why? Because, as the hymn writer puts it, Jesus paid it all. Dr. Young writes, but how can one buy without money?

    The language is evidently designed to point out that the water, wine, and milk are obtained not by human purchase, but by divine grace, the free gifts of God. Nevertheless, it may be that the form of expression chosen is also for the purpose of emphasizing the legitimacy of the transaction. Indeed, there was a price paid that man might have water, wine, and milk, And that price consisted in the fact that the chastisement of our peace was upon the servant of the Lord. What about these figures, though, of water, wine, and milk? What appropriate pictures of the spiritual sustenance provided in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You know, oftentimes in the Word of God, God uses illustrations from the natural world and from human everyday life to underscore and to illustrate the spiritual truths that are parallel to them.

    And so again, to quote from Dr. Young, as water signified the refreshment offered, so wine points to exhilaration and enjoyment and milk to nourishment. The water of life offered by Christ in the gospel not only provides us with the refreshment of salvation, forgiveness of sins, the gift of eternal life, but it also gives us peace of conscience. It gives us joy in the Holy Spirit. It gives us great satisfaction. And again, this is one of the reasons why our catechism begins with that wonderful question, what is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. God’s purpose is our joy. But there is also here in this universal invitation an implied warning not to seek soul satisfaction in the wrong things or in the wrong places. As it says in verse 2, Isaiah, or the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet, raises this question.

    Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Now, some scholars and commentators believe that Isaiah has in the back of his mind, he has in view those who were taken into Babylonian exile. You know, not all of the Jews who went into Babylonian exile returned after that exile was over. Many of them, they sunk down their roots in Babylon. They got comfortable there. They were prosperous there. They built homes. They felt at home there. And so they didn’t really want to pick up roots and go back. to Jerusalem and Judea when it was made possible for them to return to the promised land. So perhaps Isaiah has some of these folks in mind in the immediate historical setting that look, yes you’re prosperous, you’re physically and materially prosperous, but that’s not going to satisfy your soul.

    Go back to where, to your roots. Go back to Israel, to the promised land. But whether or not that’s in the background of Isaiah’s thinking here, this does indeed apply to everyone who is tempted to reject the Lord, to reject the waters of life and to seek satisfaction elsewhere. Because again, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? You see, whatever it is that you pursue in place of gospel grace, whatever you think is going to replace Jesus in your life and bring satisfaction that only Christ can bring, That idol, whatever it is, whatever form it takes, will fail you and leave you empty in the end. So this is a warning not to seek soul satisfaction in the wrong things. Reminds me of what our Lord Jesus said in his call to his disciples to deny themselves, to take up their cross and to follow him.

    In Matthew 16, 26, Jesus asks, taking the standpoint of a business transaction, he says, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Beloved, just like material possessions and financial wealth cannot satisfy an empty soul, so also things like dead ritualism, empty ceremonialism, shallow spiritual emotionalism, vigorous activism, and false religions and ideologies of every kind. These things may give a sense of satisfaction for a time, but they cannot ultimately quench our soul thirst. They cannot ultimately satisfy those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. False gospels, false religion, false ideology cannot take the place of the satisfaction that comes from knowing that Jesus has got you. that you are fully, freely forgiven and justified by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from your works, that you are clothed in His perfect, everlasting righteousness, that you are an adopted son or daughter of God, that His Spirit abides in you, that Spirit by which you cry, Abba, Father, that Spirit who has sealed you unto the day of redemption, that Spirit who enables you to enjoy peace of conscience, and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

    Only that can satisfy. Dear ones, Christ alone can satisfy your thirsty soul and mine with the overflowing river of his abundant grace, for he is the water of life even as he is the bread of life. Jesus alone is true soul food. Jesus alone is our spiritual drink. Jesus himself said so. Just to, I read a passage from Revelation earlier that shows the fulfillment and is connected to our passage here from Isaiah, but think about what Jesus claimed for Himself. Remember, for example, His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Let’s go to John 4 and look at verses 10 to 14, John chapter 4, verses 10 to 14. in the midst of our Lord’s conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus says this, beginning at verse 10, Jesus answered her, you know, after the woman says, how is it that you, a Jew, are talking to a woman of Samaria like me?

    Verse 10, Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? She doesn’t know he’s talking about something more significant than just physical water. And she says, Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself. as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

    And of course Jesus is that water. We know that because if you skip ahead just a few chapters to chapter 7, John 7, let me read verses 37 to 39. It says this, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Keep your finger there. Go back to chapter 55 of Isaiah, verse 1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. But Jesus doesn’t say, come to the waters. Jesus says, come to me and drink. Verse 38 of John, chapter 7. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. and then john explains what jesus meant now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for as yet the spirit had not been given because jesus was not yet glorified the spirit at that point and not been given in new covenant fullness as it would be after his resurrection from the dead but the point here jesus is the water of life that is the water that we sinners are invited to come and drink of But Jesus is also the bread of life.

    If you stay in the Gospel of John, turn to John chapter 6 and let me read verses 35 through 37. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. There’s another I am statement. Jesus claiming to be the I am, claiming to be God. And as God incarnate, he is the bread of life. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me.” There’s sovereign grace. The Father has given a people to his Son. All who are given by the Father to the Son will come to him and receive him as the bread of life. But whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

    There’s the free invitation available to all. And here we have gospel grace, sovereign grace, and the free offer in the very same passage. Dear friend, Are you thirsty? Not just thirsty for physical water, but thirsty for true water, the water of life? Well, if so, have you come to Jesus, the water of life? Are you hungry in your soul for soul food? Have you looked to Jesus as the bread of life? But how do I do that? Well, our passage goes on to answer that question of what it means to come to the waters, because it goes on to say in verse 2, at the end of verse 2 and into verse 3, it says, listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food, incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast sure love for David.

    This brings me to my next point where we are exhorted to listen and live. Now here, Isaiah emphasizes our responsibility to respond to this universal gospel invitation. Other passages emphasize his absolute sovereignty and his transcendent glory, but this passage emphasizes our responsibility to listen And notice the language that Isaiah uses for this listening that he’s speaking of. Clearly, he’s not just talking about casual listening or superficial attention. He’s talking about listening that hones in, listening that is fully engaged. For he says, listen, incline your ear, and hear. Verse two, listen diligently to me. Not just listen casually, listen diligently to me. And then verse three, incline your ear. What a picture, inclining your ear. Perking up, paying attention. Hear that your soul may live. This is not just hearing that fills your mind with information, but hearing that results in new life being born in your soul.

    You see, friends, from the perspective of God’s Word, we don’t really hear or listen unless we respond to the message with a heart of faith and with obedient action that flows from and is the fruit of that true and living faith. The Scriptures often exhort us as God’s people to listen to the Lord. And just to give you a few samples, if you go back to Deuteronomy, where Moses addresses the people of Israel as they’re preparing to go in and conquer the promised land. In Deuteronomy 4, verse 1. Moses says to the people, and now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you and do them. Notice the close connection between listening with faith and the action of doing the commandments. Listen to the statutes and the rules that I’m teaching you and do them, that you may live and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. or consider Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 6, the Shema, the famous Shema, where God, through Moses, says to his people, hear, O Israel, which doesn’t just mean listen and cognitively perceive, it means hear, O Israel. and obey by faith.

    Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, and so forth. Again, passages like this one and like our text for today remind me of what the Apostle Paul writes of the gospel in Romans chapter 10, verse 17, that familiar passage where Paul writes, so faith, speaking there of saving faith, justifying faith, the faith by which we are made right with God, faith comes from what? From hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. The Spirit enables us to hear unto salvation. Our Shorter Catechism comments well on this faith-filled hearing in question and answers 89 and 90. If you turn there in the back of your Psalter hymnal, you’ll find them on page 974 and 975.

    Question 89 on page 974 of our Shorter Catechism asks this, how is the word made effectual to salvation? Notice it says, the Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. And so the Word is made effectual by the sovereign grace of God. The Spirit of God uses the reading and preaching of the Word to bring us to faith and to keep us in that faith. And that’s what’s emphasized in the Bible-based answer of question 89. But then question 90 focuses on our responsibility to receive that word carefully, to listen carefully. Question 90, how is the word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation? That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with what? diligence, preparation, and prayer.

    Receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. This reminds me, brothers and sisters, of a story that one of my seminary professors told me. I went to Gordon Conwell Seminary, which is a more generically evangelical seminary, but we did have a few Reformed professors at that seminary. And one of those professors happened to be a member of the PCA, a minister and member of the Presbyterian Church in America. And I remember this particular professor in one of my classes, and I don’t remember all of the details of the story that he told, so forgive me if I get a few of those details wrong. But he was sharing a story one day in class of a gentleman who had started to attend their church. And this gentleman was not a Christian, but he was interested in the Christian faith, and he was actually interested in becoming a Christian, but he really struggled with doubts.

    He really struggled with questions. He came to church. He heard, sat under the preaching of the Word. I believe that my professor said he read his Bible and prayed and participated in the worship of the church, minus the sacraments, of course, because he wasn’t a professing believer at that point. But at one particular point in time, this particular inquirer, this gentleman, asked to meet with the pastor. And he sat down with the pastor, again, if I’m remembering the story correctly, and he said to the pastor, you know what, pastor, I really think I should stop coming to church. I feel like a total hypocrite. Because to be honest, while I wish I could believe, I just can’t. I just can’t buy all of these truths. So maybe I should just kind of back off and stop attending church until I can get my questions sorted out.

    My professor shared that his pastor gave this searcher, this inquirer, some very wise advice. The pastor said, you know what, you’re not being a hypocrite by admitting your doubts and your questions. So I would urge you, keep coming to church, keep sitting under the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s word, keep singing the hymns, keep reading your Bible in private, and keep crying out to God to give you greater light and understanding. And this gentleman did decide to do that, and continued attending my professor’s church for a time, for quite some time, actually. And one day, this gentleman, this skeptical gentleman, approached the pastor and said, you know what, pastor? Something amazing has happened. I think I really do believe. I really do believe. Again, his conversion was not some kind of dramatic Damascus Road conversion.

    It seems that this particular gentleman that my professor was speaking of was gradually converted over time. But the thing is, he diligently listened. He pursued. Obviously, he didn’t listen diligently in the sense of listening with faith, but he was pursuing faith. And actually, I would argue that the Lord was pursuing this man long before this man was pursuing the Lord. God’s sovereign grace was at work even in his questions and his doubts and his struggles to come to a solid faith in the Lord. So I would urge you, if any of you here today or any of you listening through the internet find yourself in the position of this gentleman, this inquirer that I mentioned here, I would urge you to Give diligent use of the public means of grace. Put yourself in the place where the Lord by his spirit can work in you.

    Yes, seek to have your questions answered. There’s plenty of wonderful apologetic material out there that can help you if you’re struggling with particular questions of faith. But don’t give up. Use the means of grace. Cry out to God for light, for grace. Cry out for the Lord to regenerate you and give you a heart of faith. And you will find that as you pursue the Lord, you’ll discover that he’s been pursuing you all along. And it is, all of this is grounded in, of course, the everlasting covenant of grace that God made with his son, Jesus. As he goes on to say in verse three, incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. You know, it’s interesting, the New Testament interprets this passage as being fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, and being fulfilled in particular in our Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

    Turn to Acts 13 and look at verse 34, Acts chapter 13, verse 34, where the Apostle Paul is preaching the gospel in Antioch and Pisidia, and it says this, Paul writes, or Paul says as he’s preaching here, And as for the fact that he, that God raised him, Christ from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. What’s he quoting from? He’s quoting from Isaiah 55 verse 3. Christ is the one that Isaiah is speaking of. So he’s speaking of the new covenant. He says, I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. It is based on this everlasting covenant of grace that God makes with Christ and in him with his elect people.

    Based on that, that’s what gives the gospel power. And that’s what gives power to the gospel, to bring those who hear the word to faith in Christ, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. So friends, whether we struggle with doubts, or whether the certainty of our faith is firm as a solid rock, let us continue to heed this call, to listen diligently, and to incline our ears to the Word of God. For God’s Word is powerful, and it will accomplish all that which God intends for us to accomplish in His good time. We are assured of that later on in our passage, and I’m not preaching on this today, but look again at verses 10 and 11 of chapter 55. The Lord says, For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

    It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that for which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Friends, God’s Word is powerful. As blessed by the Spirit, His Word is powerful. We see that even in the very beginning of Scripture. Right? In Genesis chapter one, how did God create the universe? Creation out of nothing. How did he do it? He did it by his sovereign creative word. He spoke and it came to be. And likewise, he speaks grace into the souls of his elect through the word, through this gospel invitation. And what makes all this possible, that leads me briefly, To my final point, as we consider what we learn here of the messianic witness to the nations, the messianic witness to the nations. Verse 4, it says, Behold, that means pay attention, I made him, speaking of Christ, great David’s greater son, I made him a witness to the peoples, not just the people of Israel, but to the Gentile peoples as well. a leader and commander for the peoples.

    Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. Now, since these verses follow immediately after the reference at the end of verse 3 to my steadfast, sure love for David, and since, as we saw, the New Testament interprets this passage as a reference to great David’s greater son, the Messiah Jesus our Lord, then these closing two verses here in our passage must clearly be referring to Christ and to the extension of his kingdom and covenant beyond the borders of Israel to the Gentile nations. And that is what will happen in the new covenant era of Jesus the Messiah, this era of redemptive history in which we now live.

    Yes, Isaiah does use Old Covenant language to describe these new covenant realities, that is true. And so do all of the Old Covenant prophets. But that was the only kind of language available to them. After all, Isaiah, like the other Old Testament prophets, was a believer and prophet living under the Old Covenant administration. Of course, he’s going to use Old Covenant language when predicting New Covenant realities. Beloved The Son of God, our Messiah and Lord, is himself a witness to the peoples, as we’re told in verse four, a witness to the everlasting covenant of grace that is spoken of in verse three. In other words, he through the gospel, and as the church fulfills its missionary mandate in the Great Commission, through that the nations of humanity will hear the glad tidings of great joy, the good news of salvation full and free, that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation which Christ has accomplished for sinners who by grace turn to him.

    The nations will be called to turn from the futility of idolatry to the forgiveness and the fullness that are found in God’s chosen, anointed Messiah. And through Him, the living waters will flow, quenching spiritual thirst and bringing eternal hope to the nations. And so once again, I close my sermon with the question I opened it with. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty for the living water? Well, dear friend, come to Jesus and drink deeply, for he is the water of life. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, sovereign and eternal God, we praise you and thank you, God, that you have provided us with spiritual refreshment and sustenance in and through Christ, the one who is the living water, the bread of life, the wine of the new covenant. Lord, feed our souls this day through the word, through what we’ve heard.

    Help us to take these truths to heart. And may we share the bounty with others that you have so richly granted to us in the gospel. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. As we close our time of worship, let’s rise and we’ll sing together number 444, come to the waters, 444.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Covenant of Peace

    The Covenant of Peace

    About this sermon

    This sermon on Isaiah 54:1–10 examines the fruitfulness of the new covenant age, the Lord’s faithfulness to his people, and the permanence of his covenant of peace.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Well, I would invite you to open your Bibles. My sermon text this morning, as we return to our study of the prophet Isaiah, is Isaiah 54, verses 1 through 10. You will find this passage on page 730 in your Pew Bibles. This passage comes immediately after the well-known suffering servant passage in Isaiah 53, a passage that foretells the sufferings of Christ, our Savior, on the cross. Now we learn of the eternal covenant of peace in this chapter. Isaiah 54, verses 1 through 10.

    Friends, hear the word of God. Sing, O barren one, who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, O you who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched out. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations, and will people the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood; you will remember it no more.

    For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you. But with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.

    This is like the days of Noah to me, as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

    Let us pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the soul food that you give us in the scriptures. We pray that by your Spirit’s illuminating grace you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word this day. We ask, Heavenly Father, that you would cause us, Lord, to hear what the Spirit is saying in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible word, and that we would take these truths to heart. And once again, Lord, we ask that you would set a guard over my lips, enable me to declare your word with clarity, power, and faithfulness. We ask, Heavenly Father, that you would build us up this day and that you would cause much spiritual fruit to be born through that which is preached today.

    We pray these things through Christ our Lord, and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Well, friends, the title of my sermon today is The Covenant of Peace. I would encourage the young people to listen for these four key words in my sermon today: fertility, covenant, husband, and promises. Well, dear ones, we have all made promises, haven’t we?

    And we have all been guilty, at times at least, of breaking our promises. As you may know from personal experience, broken promises are rarely innocent. In fact, broken promises can erode trust. They can undermine relationships. They can lead to bitterness. They can result in various sins and harmful behaviors. Broken promises can end friendships, destroy marriages, divide families, split churches, damage communities, harm businesses, and even divide nations.

    When it comes to human relationships, one of the most solemn and serious promises made among people is the wedding vow. Many of you, I am sure, remember your wedding day and the promises you made to your future spouse.

    In a traditional Christian wedding service, the bride and the groom stand before Almighty God and before human witnesses to solemnly pledge and promise to love, honor, cherish, and comfort one another, and to remain faithful to each other, forsaking all others until death separates them. These are serious commitments. These are serious promises made in wedding vows. These promises emphasize that marriage is a binding covenant relationship, a relationship entered into voluntarily and involving solemn promises and mutual responsibilities between husband and wife. Of course, no marriage in this fallen world is perfect.

    Marriages in which both husband and wife are seriously, prayerfully, and earnestly striving to keep the covenant promises of their wedding vows. In such marriages, these marriages will usually be characterized by overall peace and harmony. But on the other hand, marriages in which the wedding vows are routinely violated, where one spouse or both spouses are not loving, honoring, cherishing, comforting one another, or being faithful to one another, and thus breaking the marriage covenant. Such marriages will tend to be characterized, of course, by disharmony, disunity, dysfunction, and strife.

    Well, Pastor, why are you bringing up marriage in the context of this passage here in Isaiah? Well, friends, I bring up this matter of marriage and promises, in particular the promises that couples make to one another in their wedding vows, because the Bible, God’s word, reveals that our God is a God who makes covenant promises to his people.

    And also because the Holy Scriptures sometimes portray God as a divine husband to his covenant people. We find that in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning. Our passage for this Lord’s Day morning indeed depicts the Lord, Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, as the husband, the divine husband of his people, and his people are depicted as Yahweh’s wife. Look again at verses five and six, where Isaiah says to the people of God: “For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth, He is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife, deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off,” says your God.

    And of course, this analogy of God’s covenant relationship to His people being similar to a husband’s relationship to his wife carries over into the New Testament scriptures, where our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is revealed as the spiritual head and husband of His church, and the church, by implication, is revealed to be the bride of Christ.

    We saw this, at least by implication, in the passage that I read earlier in the service from Ephesians chapter 5. Let me read a couple of those verses again. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 25 and 26, we read the following: “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” We see here an analogy. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ, the divine head and husband of His church, loves the church, giving Himself up for her. Then skip down to verses 29 and 30.

    Paul writes, “For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body.” The union of one flesh pictured in marriage is a depiction pointing to the union of Christ with His church. Then look at verse 32: Paul makes it clear, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Yes, he is talking about duties and responsibilities between husbands and wives, but behind that is this mystery of Christ’s relationship to His church.

    Now, friends, with this analogy in mind, we have seen throughout Isaiah that even though God has been perfectly loyal to the covenant as a divine husband toward his people, God’s people under the Israelite theocracy have been disloyal, persistently and often impenitently so, to the covenant relationship that God established with them. Just as a wife breaks her marriage covenant through persistent and impenitent unfaithfulness to her husband, Israel broke the covenant by following the idols of the nations around them and by forsaking the Lord and disobeying His holy law. This is why God predicted that they would be sent away into exile in Babylon.

    But, friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning anticipates a time in redemptive history beyond Babylonian exile. It looks to the joy of the new covenant, after God would graciously restore His faithless bride from exile, never again to rebuke her as He did during the exile, and promising her His covenant of peace—a covenant that would be ratified by the promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. As it says in verse 10: “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you. And my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. So, friends, let us turn our attention to our passage for this Lord’s Day morning.

    The first thing I want us to consider as we investigate verses one through four of our passage is what we learn here about the spiritual fertility of the new covenant age. We learn first of all in this passage about the spiritual fertility of the new covenant age.

    Now once again, our passage for this morning is well situated in the flow of Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah 54 is connected to what comes before it in Isaiah chapter 53. It is also connected to what comes after it in Isaiah 55. In Isaiah 53, we read of and studied the messianic prophecy concerning Jesus the suffering servant. In this prophetic passage of chapter 53, we see how our Savior’s sufferings were described in great detail hundreds of years before he came into human history. But that redeeming work of Christ, through which he paid the penalty for sin, made it possible for the church to expand to the nations. We learn about this in our passage for today. As one commentator expresses it, in Christian terms, the crucifixion of chapter 53 is followed by the growth of the church in chapter 54 and the gospel call of chapter 55.

    Some would suggest that our passage for today anticipates only the joy and restoration that would be experienced by the Old Testament Jewish community after its return to the promised land following the Babylonian exile. Therefore, these commentators would find the fulfillment of this passage solely in the post-exilic Jewish community. And friends, we may certainly view this passage as having at least a partial and initial fulfillment in the return of God’s people from their Babylonian exile. However, the fact that this passage ultimately speaks about the joy and restoration brought about by Jesus the Messiah in the new covenant era is confirmed by what the Apostle Paul says about it in the New Testament. For Paul quotes from this passage in Galatians 4, verses 26 and 27.

    Let me read, first of all, verse 1 of our passage for today once again. It says, “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.

    But when we look at this passage, if you turn to Galatians 4, verses 26 and 27, we see that Paul applies this passage from Isaiah to the true church, which he describes as the Jerusalem above. In other words, the true people of God, those who are born from above, born again by the Holy Spirit. As it says in Galatians 4, verses 26 and 27, Paul writes: “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear, break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.’”

    So again, this confirms that our passage for today is ultimately a prophecy about the realities of our new covenant age in Christ. Therefore, returning to our passage for today, with all of this in mind, what we find in verse 1 is a summons for God’s people to rejoice in the spiritual fertility that is promised in this new covenant age. Sing, O barren one who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor.

    For the children of the desolate, one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. This predicts that God will add multitudes to the ranks of His people in the age of the promised Messiah. Multitudes of sinners will be converted from among the Gentile nations to faith in the true and living God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God whom we worship, the blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, multitudes will be added to the membership of those who are children of Zion. This is what I mean by spiritual fertility. It is not necessarily about physical fertility or the natural multiplication of children. It is about the spiritual multiplication of the church, as multitudes are brought to faith in the true and living God in the age of the promised Messiah. This spiritual fertility of the new covenant age, which is anticipated in our passage for today, will be the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham.

    After all, consider this, brothers and sisters, especially those of you who are familiar with what God promised Abraham. God not only promised Abraham that he would have many children, physical descendants who would populate the promised land, but God also promised Abraham that through him, the nations would be blessed. Ultimately, this refers to Christ, for Christ, who was a son of Abraham, came as the promised Messiah and blesses the nations with His saving mercy. If you go back to Genesis chapter 12, verses one and three, these verses recall the Lord’s promise to Abraham in His covenant with Abraham. Chapter 12, verses one to three.

    Now the Lord said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse.”

    And notice the end of verse three: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God’s covenant with Abraham was not about blessing only his Jewish descendants. It is about blessing all the nations of mankind. This is confirmed when God reaffirms His Abrahamic promise to Jacob. If you turn to Genesis chapter 28, and look at verses 13 and 14, it says: “The Lord said to Jacob, ‘Behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. In you and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’”

    Praise be to God. Here God reaffirms His covenant promises to Jacob. So it is likely, my friends, that in our passage for this morning, Isaiah had these covenant promises in mind as the Holy Spirit moved him to write this passage and to use this imagery. Then he goes on to say in verse two: “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” How many of you live in tents? I do not think many of you do, or any of you do.

    But in Isaiah’s time, there were people who lived in tents in that particular culture and era. There still are nomadic peoples today in certain parts of the world. This passage uses the imagery of nomadic life, which would have been familiar to the original audience Isaiah was addressing. In this passage, Isaiah speaks of expanding the place of your tent and stretching out the curtains of your dwelling. What is the meaning of this imagery?

    The meaning is that God will increase the number of those who are children of Zion. He will increase the number of His covenant people in the new covenant age. He will add many more people to the community of His covenant. This anticipates the church’s great commission and the gathering of the Gentiles into Christ’s church.

    Then, in verse 3, it says: “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.” Notice, your offspring will possess the nations, not just one nation, but the nations. This again anticipates the expansion of Christ’s kingdom to all nations of humanity. Dr. E.J. Young comments that “to the right and to the left” has adverbial force and indicates that this expansion will be worldwide.

    The Church is outward-moving and active in its mission. Isaiah uses Old Testament imagery to symbolize the great spiritual victory over the nations through the worldwide preaching of the Gospel. This victory is not achieved through military conquest, but through the conquest of the Gospel, so that the Lord’s people will, in a spiritual sense, possess the nations.

    And then verse 4: fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced. Oh, the people of God in exile had been disgraced, and their captors no doubt mocked them. They said, “Your God, Yahweh, was not powerful enough to prevent you from being conquered and brought into exile.” But here Isaiah, in the spirit of prophecy, foresees a time after the exile, when the people are told: fear not, for you will not be ashamed as you had been in the past. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood. You will remember them no more, because God will certainly accomplish His redemptive purposes. The people of God, we as the people of God, have no need to fear. Let us not fear, for the Lord has promised never to expose us to shame. Christ took that shame upon Himself on the cross of Calvary.

    Now notice in the language of verse 4, Isaiah, through the Spirit, promises the people: for you will forget the shame of your youth. What does this refer to? The shame of your youth? This may refer to their time as slaves in Egypt. They will forget that shame. And the reproach of your widowhood may refer to the Babylonian exile, when the people felt utterly deserted by Yahweh, their divine husband. They felt as if He were dead to them. He says, do not fear.

    Things will change when the Messiah comes. Beloved, let us be confident in the success of the church’s missionary and evangelistic labors. We are promised in passages like this that the gospel will go forth throughout the world, that the great multitude of God’s elect will be gathered to Christ and into His church from the four corners of the earth, and in God’s good time. We are promised that the nations will be discipled.

    How that looks in terms of number and extent is debated by theologians and Bible scholars. We are not told exactly, but we can trust that God will carry out his saving purposes. This confidence should not make us apathetic or passive, nor should it lead us to sit back and say, “Well, God will bring his own home in his good time.” God uses means. He uses us as his church, his people, to witness for Christ and to shine the light of Christ. Therefore, we must be active, using the gifts that God has given us and doing what we can to contribute our part to the cause of the Great Commission. Nevertheless, we need not be afraid and we need not be ashamed. God’s purposes will prevail. Why?

    Because he is faithful. In fact, this leads me to my next point: we consider Yahweh as the faithful husband of his people. Yahweh, the faithful divine husband of his people. Verse five says, “For your maker is your husband.” Why is it that we need not fear? Why is it that we can be confident that God will carry out his purposes, brothers and sisters? Because the Lord is loyal to his covenant with us. He is our divine husband. Your maker is your husband.

    The Lord of hosts, Yahweh of hosts, is his name. Yahweh, the covenant name for God, is indicated in English translations when the word Lord appears in all capital letters. This is the translator’s way of indicating God’s covenant name. God is a faithful covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. He is Yahweh of hosts. He is the God of the armies of heaven. And that is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. The God of the whole earth is he called. He is the God of the whole earth. He is not merely a national or tribal deity. He is the God of the whole earth. And brothers and sisters in Christ, we as the church can be confident, for he is our faithful divine husband.

    Again, as I mentioned before, not only in this passage but elsewhere in Scripture, God is sometimes portrayed as a divine husband to his people. To provide another example from the Scriptures, let us turn to Hosea 2, verse 16. In the Old Testament, Hosea, Joel, and Amos contain this passage. Here, notice what the Lord says to his people at a time when they were unfaithful. Verse 16: “In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband and no longer will you call me my Baal.” Then skip down to verses 19 and 20: “I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.”

    Friends, this depiction of Yahweh’s relationship to his people, analogous to a husband’s relationship to his wife, serves to underscore the truth that God’s relationship to us, his people, is a covenant relationship. That is, a relationship in which God graciously binds himself to us through solemn promises. He requires from us a response of true faith, expecting loyalty that arises from such faith. Yet he remains faithful. He is loyal to his covenant promises. Praise be to God. Then we read verses 6 and following:

    “For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off,” says your God. “For a brief moment, I deserted you, but with great compassion, I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. Are these not comforting words? Now, some might say, wait a minute, God does not abandon his people, right?

    And yet it says in verse six, the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off. Has God ever cast off his people? No. When we compare Scripture with Scripture, we know that God does not abandon His people. God remains faithful even when we are faithless, and we see that throughout the history of Israel in the Old Testament. So I would agree with Calvin’s view that God had not actually deserted His people when they were in Babylonian exile, for He always remains true to His promises. But no doubt the people in exile would feel as though God had deserted them and abandoned His covenant promises to them, which is probably how we should understand this kind of language of divine desertion here. God is speaking from the standpoint of how His people would understand and view themselves in their exiled condition. Yet He had not ultimately abandoned His people. And He says, in overflowing anger for a moment, I hid My face from you. Yes, He disciplined them. He sent them into exile. He chastened them sorely. But then He says, that is not the end.

    This is proof that He has not abandoned them, because He says, with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer, your Redeemer. Beloved, let us trust God in Christ as the faithful divine head and husband of His church. Let us realize that our God is loyal to His covenant promises. He always keeps His promises, and He can always be relied upon. Do you believe that? God is trustworthy. Do you trust in Him as He is offered to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ? And we can trust in Him finally because of the permanence of His covenant promises. This is my final point as we turn our attention to verses nine and ten. We read here of the permanence of God’s covenant promises. In verse nine, the Lord says, this is like the days of Noah to Me.

    As I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you. Though the waters of the great flood of Noah’s time overwhelmed and destroyed the world that then was, eventually those waters receded. And God promised that He would never again send such a destructive flood. Remember His promise in Genesis 9, verse 11, where God says to Noah: “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” He is not saying, by the way, that there will never be any more floods. There have been many floods since the days of Noah.

    But there will never be a flood of this magnitude that would destroy all living beings on the face of the earth. And so, God says it will never happen again, and God will never break that promise. Likewise, just as God promises never again to destroy the earth by a flood, just as that promise stands forever, so He has promised to never again express His anger toward His people in the way He did during their Babylonian exile, especially in the New Covenant era.

    Why? Because God’s anger was poured out on Christ. And that is one of the things, you know, the Lord, our Heavenly Father, can be displeased with us, and He does sometimes chasten us out of love so that we may share in His holiness. But in terms of anger in the sense of wrath, Believer, God is no longer angry with you, even when you sin. That is not an excuse to sin, but your sins were placed on Christ. He took the anger and wrath of God in your place, in your stead.

    So be confident in His love for you in Christ. Likewise, just as God promises never to destroy the world with a flood, He promises never to be angry with His people in the way that He expressed His anger during the Babylonian exile. But then He goes beyond reminding them of this scriptural promise, and He points to the natural world.

    In verse 10, He speaks of the mountains. What seems more permanent to us from our vantage point than the hills and the mountains? When Sharon and I were in Ireland a number of weeks ago, we had the privilege of seeing the Cliffs of Moher. A tremendous mountainscape there. It seems so permanent.

    The steadfast covenant love of God shall not depart from His people. His covenant of peace will not be removed. His loyalty to His covenant promises is even more stable than mountains and hills, which seem so permanent to us. And so He says in verse 10: “For the mountains may depart, the hills may be removed; they too are temporary, they too are finite. But My steadfast love— in the Hebrew, His covenant love, His hesed— shall not depart from you.”

    “And My covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord who has compassion on you. What is meant by this covenant of peace? Again, to quote from Dr. Young, he says this is a covenant that brings peace to humanity and is an equivalent expression for My mercy. The reference is to the covenant of grace, wherein God freely offers life and salvation to sinners. In other words, it is speaking ultimately about the gospel, the gospel covenant. And so, beloved, let us stand with bold confidence on the unbreakable, unchanging permanence of God’s covenant promises. In particular, the promises of grace and salvation that are offered to us sinners in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Covenant promises like this: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

    There is no fine print in that promise. God says what He means. He means what He says. Take Him at His word. Trust Him. His promises are unbreakable. Dear listener, are you trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and His promises of grace and salvation as revealed in the gospel? May you trust in Him. May we trust in Him this day.

    And may we ground our lives in the rock of Jesus and His word. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank You for Your everlasting covenant of peace with us. We thank You that through faith in Christ, we have peace with You, that we have a standing in grace, a standing that can never be removed, and that Your promises are sure and certain, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Lord, we pray that these truths would cause us to root ourselves in Christ again, to deepen and strengthen our faith. May we build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of His word. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen. Let us respond to what we have heard by rising, and we will sing together number 475, “Who Trusts in God a Strong Abode.”

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Suffering and Triumphant Servant

    The Suffering and Triumphant Servant

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 52-53 describes the Servant whose appearance men marred beyond human semblance, whom they despised and rejected, a man of sorrows. His atonement is substitutionary and penal: “he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.” It was the will of the Lord to crush him. Out of the anguish of his soul he will see and be satisfied, and by his knowledge he will make many to be accounted righteous. The beneficiaries are “my people,” those for whom he bore sin, and God exalts the one who suffered, and he divides the spoil.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    We continue our exploration and study of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this morning we’re talking about a very familiar but very jam-packed and powerful portion of God’s Word found in Isaiah. That is chapter 52, verse 13, chapter 53, verse 12. You’ll find that beginning on page 729. in your pew bibles. This is what the scholars and theologians call the fourth servant song. So let us hear God’s holy word beginning at Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 and reading through the end of chapter 53.

    Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him.

    For that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

    He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

    Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

    He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

    When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

    Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

    The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, in this passage of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible word, we are confronted with mysteries beyond human comprehension. And yet, Lord, we are also blessed in this passage with rich spiritual food to feed our souls. We ask, Lord, that these gospels today would indeed work deepened faith and love and hope and joy in our hearts and souls. We would ask Heavenly Father that by your spirit as it goes forth, implant this word by your spirit into our souls and illuminate our minds by your spirit that we might understand and behold wondrous things from your word this day. In all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated.

    Today the title of my sermon is The Suffering and Triumphant Servant, and taken from this fourth servant song in Isaiah. And the key words to be listening for today are the words suffering, atonement, and triumphant. Well, dear friends, in Christ this morning, we find ourselves considering a well-known and frequently referenced passage of God’s Word that is often pointed to as one of the clearest, if not the clearest, prophecies that predicts with exhaustive accuracy the sufferings and the victories of the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom the Lord describes in this passage in chapter 22, verse 13, morning, as I mentioned, is the fourth of the so-called Servant Songs of Isaiah. And this particular Servant Song is arguably the prophetic climax and center of the entire book of the prophet Isaiah. And chapter 53, verses 4 through 6 in particular, is the climax, the central hub of this particular Servant Song.

    The multiple details of this profound messianic prophecy are fulfilled with astonishing accuracy in the history of our Lord’s trial, the grievous unspeakable sufferings of his crucifixion, and his burial in a rich man’s tomb. The ultimate triumph of the suffering servant mentioned in this passage finds fulfillment, of course, in our Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his reign, what the theologians call his session at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, where he intercedes for us as our great and heavenly high priest. The central portion highlights the messianic servant of the Lord as a suffering servant, is actually bookended with predictions of the servant’s ultimate victory, exaltation, and triumph. And so this, not with the humiliation of our Lord, but with his exaltation being predicted.

    In chapter 52, verse 13, Isaiah opens up saying, behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. The closing portion of this found in chapter 53, verse 12, mentions this servant dividing the spoils. It says in verse 12, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, which again points to his victory, his triumph, his exaltation.

    So again, This is not just the suffering servant passage. This is about the suffering and ultimately triumphant servant of the Lord. So again, here in this fourth servant song, we are presented with the promised Messiah as Yahweh’s suffering and triumphant servant. In fact, in God’s ironic plan, it is actually by means of our Lord’s vicarious sufferings that he ultimately triumphs. in resurrected, exalted victory.

    And what makes all of this so astonishing is that the Holy Spirit moved Isaiah the prophet to record this prophecy multiple hundreds of years before Jesus the Messiah even entered into the history of the human race. Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. These predictions of these astonishing and detailed predictions of his sufferings are given here in the prophecy that we have before us today. What a profound testimony this passage is to the divine inspiration and the supernatural origin of the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God.

    Now there are so many spiritual riches, friends, so many details in this passage that we could take time to explore today. In fact, I would suggest to you that it would be possible to do an entire sermon series just on this particular passage. However, given our limited time this morning, today I want to have us focus on two important truths, gospel truths, that we learn from this prophecy about the vicarious sufferings and triumph of Yahweh’s messianic servant, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

    First of all, we’re going to consider the nature of the suffering servant’s atonement, and then we will consider the beneficiaries of the triumphant servant’s atonement. So let’s consider the nature of the suffering servant’s atonement. through an introductory behold, which means pay attention. This is important, listen up. Through this introductory behold in chapter 52, verse 13, Isaiah directs our attention once again to the figure of God’s servant, the servant of Yahweh, the servant. servant song in Isaiah. So we’ve been learning a lot and hearing a lot and reading a lot and studying a lot about this particular servant of the Lord.

    And in this passage it’s very clear that the servant of the Lord is not Israel corporately considered, but here the servant of the Lord is an individual, an individual who carries the sorrows and bears the sins of God’s people. the degradation and the awful suffering of Christ, a degradation and suffering that will lead some to mistakenly conclude that the servant was suffering for his own sins. In view of that, Isaiah begins this section by assuring us that the servant will indeed be exalted to a very high position as we’re in chapter 52 verse 13.

    Though many were astonished at the appearance of Christ in his suffering, and though he was marred almost beyond by his suffering and death, nonetheless, he accomplished the priestly work necessary to sprinkle many nations, not just his people among the Jews, but to sprinkle many nations. And this one who was so degraded will be so utterly exalted that even kings will stand in awe of him. That’s the thrust of chapter 52. where it says, as many were astonished at you, the at you there is probably a reference to God’s people who were afflicted in the exile. Many were astonished that Yahweh’s people were suffering an exile, but as people were astonished at them, at the suffering servant of the Lord.

    For it goes on to say, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance. Think about what Jesus must have looked like after his flogging, how he was a mass of blood and torn flesh. Many were astonished. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. But the suffering had a purpose.

    As we’re told in verse 15, so shall he sprinkle many nations. This points us to the sprinkling of blood, atonement for many nations. And not only that, it goes on to say, kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand. Even kings, foreign kings, those in high positions in foreign lands, when they hear of his suffering followed by his exaltation, will stand in awe of him. Now, Isaiah knew that it would be hard for people to believe that God would take his servant from such a deep state of humiliation in order to exalt him to such a high state of exaltation.

    And that’s why he begins chapter 53 with a question, two questions. Who has believed what he heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The arm of the Lord representing his strength in action, his power in action. In the words of one commentator, the appalling suffering of God’s own wise servant who deserved none of it, and the subsequent elevation of one so dishonored by men It would, in fact, produce incredulity in many hearing the report of these things. God’s way of doing things often does not seem to make sense to men.

    Salvation through a crucified Messiah? Victory through death and suffering? Yes. as the representative of the people, Isaiah is here in chapter 53, verse 1, expressing dismay that so few believe the good news about the Christ, the servant of God. But Isaiah then goes on to describe what the servant is like in chapter 53, verses 2 and 3.

    He says, for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. In other words, from the human perspective, Christ came from a rather unimpressive background, rather unimpressive pedigree. We know, of course, that he is actually the incarnate Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born… …point of his contemporaries, he was just an ordinary Jew who was born in, of all places, or who came from, of all places, Nazareth. We know he was born in Bethlehem, as the scriptures predicted that the Messiah would be, but nevertheless he was a Nazirite, It says, he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

    He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was not an impressive fellow by human appearance. Not only that, it goes on to say in verse three, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, And we esteemed him not.

    Jesus, at the height of his earthly ministry, had many followers, many who were clamoring to see him. For motives that were not holy or godly, but simply gawking at him, wanting to see him to do some miracles, or perhaps wanting to partake of the bread that he multiplied on that occasion, on several occasions. But whatever the case may be, we know that in his earthly ministry, Jesus ultimately was rejected by the majority of his fellow Jews. He was despised and rejected. That’s why, ultimately, he was nailed to a cross.

    Dear ones, it is because this unbelief is so prevalent in our world that we sinners need a sinless Savior. We need a Savior who is able to accomplish an effective atonement, an atonement by which Christ overcomes our natural enmity, our natural unbelief. In this passage, Isaiah tells us that Christ, the suffering servant, offered just such an atonement. I just want to focus on three aspects of the Atonement We notice that Christ’s atonement was penal in its nature. That term penal is related to the term penalty. That is to say, Christ bore the penalty due to us for our sin. He suffered punishment for the guilt of our sin. In our therapeutic age, that’s a very unpopular message. The idea that God will actually punish sin Many folks today don’t want to believe that.

    Oh, God’s a loving God. Yes, He’s loving, but He’s also just and also holy. And sin is cosmic treason. Every time we sin, we shake our fist at our Creator and say, Lord, not Your will, my will, be done. And that is an offense to the infinitely holy God who created us in His image and who calls us to live for His glory.

    So Christ’s atonement was penal by nature. especially the language of verses four through six and following. In verse four, we’re told this, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. The unbelieving attitude towards Christ is that, well, he’s stricken by God because of his own sin, but in actuality, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

    Verse 5, but he was pierced for our transgressions. Pierced. This obviously is ultimately fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ, where he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Jesus was pierced through as punishment for our sins.

    Again, the penal nature of his atonement for our sins is brought out clearly in this amazing prophetic passage. And then verse six, it says, all we like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The Lord has laid on him. He didn’t have sin laid on him, that his own sin laid on him, no. He was sinless. Yahweh laid our sin on the suffering Messiah, Jesus. God the Father laid on Jesus the punishment for the guilt of our sin.

    And what was the result? Well, if you skip down to verse eight, it says, by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was what? Cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

    All of this language points to his penal sufferings, his penal vicarious sufferings for us and for our salvation. But this was God’s will, as we’re told in verse 10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to do what? Crush him. He has put him to grief. It was the father’s will to crush his son that we might be redeemed. And it was not that Jesus had to die to make an angry God loving. It was God’s love that motivated him to send his son into this world to pay the penalty for sin so that we who believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

    And then verse 11, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied again. The penal sufferings of Christ come out here. shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. And then verse 12, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. All of this penal language regarding our Lord’s sufferings reminds me of what the Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 3, verse 18, 1 Peter 3, verse 18, where Peter is writing to a group of Christians who were facing persecution, facing suffering for their faith. He reminds them, and the Holy Spirit through Peter reminds us that indeed Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh and made alive in the spirit, and so forth. But this is related to the next aspect of the atoning work that is highlighted in this suffering servant passage.

    And that is to say that Christ’s atonement was also substitutionary. Jesus suffered the penalty due to us for our sin, but it’s also substitutionary in nature. That is to say, Christ bore the penalty of sin as a He bore our penalty in our place, in our stead.

    Why did Jesus have to die such an awful, horrible death on the cross of Calvary? It wasn’t just to show how much God loves us, although it certainly does show that. It wasn’t just to be a moral example to us. No, He died to pay the penalty for our sin in our place, in our stead. He was the Lamb of God. He died as our Savior. our substitute, and the language of our passage brings that out. Just as the language of this passage brings out the penal nature of our Lord’s substitutionary work, or our Lord’s vicarious sufferings, it also brings out the substitutionary aspect of our Lord’s work.

    Again, verses four through six, he has borne whose griefs? Our griefs. He has carried whose sorrows? Our sorrows. And verse five, he was pierced for for our transgressions. He’s our sin bearer, our substitute. He was crushed for what? For our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has done what? Laid on him the iniquity of us all.

    We see this substitutionary language implied and used also in verse eight. By oppression and judgment he was taken away as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for what? For the transgression of my people. He was stricken for the transgression of my people. There’s substitution there. There’s sin bearing going on there. And this also comes out especially in verses 10 through 12. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. Christ died as our guilt offering.

    He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. That points to his ultimate victory and exaltation in the resurrection. And then it goes on to say, In verse 11, by his knowledge, or by the knowledge of him as it could be translated, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear, excuse me, he shall bear their iniquities. He bears our iniquities. And therefore, again, verse 12, he bore the sin of many and makes This is substitutionary language, very clearly.

    Especially for a few moments, on the language that is used in verse 6, Isaiah 53 verse 6, it says, this language of the Lord laying on Jesus our iniquity. What’s in the background of Isaiah’s mind as he writes this? Well, it’s very possible that Isaiah is thinking of the scapegoat ritual that was commanded by God in the Old Covenant. If you’re familiar with that ritual and will read the passage where the Lord commanded his people to do this, just as the priest symbolically in that scapegoat ritual laid the sins of the people on the scapegoat by laying his hands on the goat and confessing over the goat the sins of the people, and then the goat was released into the wilderness to bear away the sins of the people. So God the Father has not just symbolically, but actually laid our sins upon his messianic servant so that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, may bear those sins away as our sin bearer, our substitute.

    If you turn to Leviticus chapter 16, let’s look at verses 20 through 22. Leviticus chapter 16, verses 20 through 22, where this ritual is explained. This is what was to be done on the day of atonement of Leviticus 16. And when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent And Aaron shall lay, Aaron was the high priest, Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel. So there’s a symbolic transfer.

    The sins of the people are laid symbolically on the goat, the scapegoat. shall confess the sins of all the iniquities, confess over all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions, all their sins, and he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.”

    What a picture, not only of substitution, of our sin being laid on Christ and Him bearing that sin, but also a picture of expiation, God sending away our sin. In Christ, our sins have been laid on Christ. He himself was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, but our sins were laid upon him, and he bears those sins away. Praise be to God. This is what is being pointed to here in Isaiah 53, verse 6, where it says, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And again, we are reminded of that passage that I read several times, actually, earlier in the service, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, where the Apostle Paul writes, for our sake he, God the Father, made him, Christ, to be sin, who knew no sin. Christ was sinless, he knew no sin. But God the Father, in a sense, laid our sins upon Christ. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

    So Christ’s atonement, his vicarious suffering, was an atonement that was penal in nature. He underwent the penalty for sin that we deserve, and it was substitutionary. He acted as our sin-bearer, our substitute. But I also want us to consider from our passage today, and there’s much more that we can consider, but briefly understand also that Christ’s atonement was efficacious. He accomplished and secured the redemption of God’s people. He didn’t just make us redeemable. He actually redeemed us. He didn’t just make us savable. He actually saved us, secured our salvation on the cross of Calvary.

    And you say, well, where is that found in this suffering servant passage? The whole tenor of this whole passage highlights the fact that the suffering servant is indeed triumphant and his sufferings are efficacious in making atonement for our sins. For example, in verse, with his wounds we are healed. By his wounds we might be healed if we jump through enough hoops or if we do the right, make the right choices. No, by his wounds, with his wounds we are healed. Christ’s atonement is efficacious.

    He actually atones for the sins of actual people. Now, a couple points of application before we briefly consider our final point. First of all, friends, if nothing less than the substitutionary sufferings of the sinless Son of God are sufficient to atone for our sins, then how great must our sin be in the eyes of God? We live in, like I said before, we live in a therapeutic culture, and we live in a culture that is constantly telling us, you deserve a break today. You’re a good person. I’m okay, you’re okay. Everything’s okay.

    God is love, he would never punish anyone. And so we have a culture today that feeds us the lie that our sin is not really a big deal. You know, God is sort of this indulgent father in heaven who will just kind of overlook our sin. He’s not the God of the Bible. Yes, the God of the Bible is loving, he is kind, he’s compassionate, he’s gracious, but he is also a God of unbending holiness, infinite white-hot holiness, righteousness, and justice. And our sin, not loving him with all of our being, not loving our neighbor as ourselves, our sin nature and the expressions of that sin nature are offensive to God, so utterly offensive that they deserve punishment.

    And the punishment that we deserve for our sin, you wanna know how great that punishment deserves to be? Well, think about the sufferings of Jesus. Endured, underwent the punishment. That was horrible, horrible punishment that he endured. Our sin, therefore, must be utterly horrible in the eyes of God. Only the vicarious sufferings of the Lord’s messianic servant will suffice to atone for human sin. But praise God. Praise God that he has mercifully provided a substitute for sinners. Are you, dear listener, trusting in Christ as your sin-bearer, your substitute?

    But beloved in Christ, let us also take comfort in knowing that our Savior’s work of penal substitutionary atonement is an effective work. For the efficacy of our Savior’s atonement means that our salvation is assured. It isn’t just that Jesus died to make salvation a possibility. He is called Jesus, as we’re told in Matthew 121. told Joseph, you will call his name Jesus, which means the Lord is salvation. Why? Because he will save his people from their sins.

    And that brings me to the next point, as we consider in closing the beneficiaries of the triumphant servant’s atonement. Who is this atonement intended to benefit? For whose benefit did Yahweh’s suffering and triumphant servant render this efficacious atonement? Did he offer this atonement for everyone without exception? Or is the scope of those who would benefit from the servant’s atoning work more limited in scope to a particular people, to, say, God’s elect people, to those who, by God’s sovereign grace, would actually come in due time to trust in him for their salvation? A simple way of putting it is to say, is to ask, does this suffering servant passage support universal atonement, so-called universal or limited atonement?

    Now before seeking to answer this question, let me first remind all of us that all Biblical Christians, including Calvinists, including Orthodox Presbyterians, all Biblical Christians affirm that Christ’s atonement is of infinite value and therefore it is sufficient for the salvation of all mankind. Jesus Christ, the infinite Son of God, rendered an atonement on the cross of Calvary that is of infinite value and could atone for an infinite number of sins of an infinite number of people. So we do not say that the atonement is limited in its value, it’s infinite in its value. And it’s sufficient for all, that’s why we can go forth and affirm the free offer of the gospel and share the gospel with everyone.

    However, again, the question here is, who was the atonement designed to benefit? For those whose sin, Christ, for whose sin did Christ actually atone? Well, in line with many other passages of scripture, this fourth servant song supports the view that is sometimes, in my view, unhelpful, limited atonement. I prefer to call it definite redemption or particular redemption.

    And we see this in the language of verses four through six, for example. Surely he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. Goes on to say in verse five, he was pierced by our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. We like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all. Well, Pastor Jeff, it says us, it says all. Clearly that’s referring to everyone without distinction, without exception. Well, friends, again, this is where it’s important.

    When we read the Scriptures, we need to read it in its context. We need to ask ourselves, who is Isaiah addressing? Who is the Lord through Isaiah addressing in the context of this particular passage? Remember, friends, that in this passage, Isaiah is addressing God’s people in particular.

    And verse eight makes it clearer. It says in verse eight, by oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation who consider that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of who? Stricken for the transgression of my people. Not all people, but my people. That’s who is in view here in this passage.

    And then verse 10 refers to the Lord’s Verse 10, it says, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days. And verse 12, yet he bore the sin of many. Again, this does not prove the doctrine of particular efficacious redemption, but it certainly, the language here in chapter 53 is certainly conducive to and supportive of the doctrine of particular redemption.

    Our Lord Jesus himself, in that wonderful gospel that records John 3.16, which I’ll comment on in just a few moments, but John 10, verse 11, in the midst of the Good Shepherd discourse, our Lord Jesus says this about himself. He says, I am the Good Shepherd. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd of his people. Here, Jesus is claiming deity by saying, I am the good shepherd. And he goes down to say, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

    Now, later on, he talks about those who don’t believe in him because you are not of my sheep. The implication being, I’ve not laid down my life for you who are not my sheep. I lay down my life for you. my sheep.” And then verses 14 and 15, Jesus says the same thing. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep who are not of this fold, those outside of the Jewish fold, those among the Gentiles, in other words. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

    But Pastor Jeff, what about John 3.16? Well, let’s look at that very briefly.

    John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that what?

    Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God’s love for a lost, sin-cursed world is manifested in sending his son so that a limited number of people Those who believe, whoever believes in him. It’s universal in the sense that everyone is welcome, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What about those who do not believe in him? The son was not sent into the world to redeem them, to save them, only those who come by sovereign grace to believe in his holy name.

    Now friends, two points of application. First of all, friends, the doctrine of definite redemption, as taught and implied in our passage for this morning and many other passages of scripture. This is a great comfort to the believer, especially to the believer who feels the burden of his own sin, for this is a doctrine that reminds us that our salvation is grounded not in our free will, not in our works, our will, or anything we do. Our salvation is ultimately grounded in an efficacious atonement. an atonement which actually secures eternal salvation, not just makes salvation possible for everybody, but makes salvation certain for a great multitude of sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

    Jesus did not shed one drop of his blood in vain when he died on the cross. And as the triumphant messianic servant of the Lord, he has secured the eternal salvation of even the weakest, most frail, most struggling believer. So be comforted, Christian, you who know Christ as your Savior. just to make you savable. He has secured your salvation. He who has begun a good work in you will carry it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

    But some would object to this and say, well, wait a minute. If Christ’s atonement is particular in its nature, if it’s designed to benefit only specific particular people, then doesn’t that make evangelism and missions sort of irrelevant, doesn’t that weaken the church’s evangelistic and missionary witness? No, I would argue the opposite.

    When the doctrine of definite redemption is correctly biblical, then it adds great power to the church’s evangelistic and missionary labors. After all, let me ask you this, how can you present as good news a message about an atonement that does not actually efficaciously atone? How can a Jesus who is merely a potential Savior, a Savior who died to, not to actually save me, but to merely make me savable, how can that be of any help to a sin-burdened wretch who feels the weight of his sin? But friends, a biblically consistent presentation of the gospel declares an efficacious, all-sufficient Savior, a Savior who offered up an efficacious atonement, a Savior who by His vicarious sufferings actually secured the eternal salvation of actual sinners, sinners like me, sinners like you. Only on the basis of a definite, efficacious atonement rendered by a perfect, all-sufficient Savior can the gospel call resound across the world in its full power, its full light, and its full glory. Let us take our stand on the efficacy of our Lord’s atonement. as someone who makes salvation possible, but a Savior who offers full and free and certain salvation to all who by sovereign grace would come in faith to Him.

    Have you come to Him? Have you called upon His name? will carry it through to completion. If you have not yet turned to him, turn to him today. He will turn away none who come to him. And if he is drawing you to him, that means that he has died for you and he is drawing you with the cords of love unto himself. Praise be to God.

    Heavenly Father, we thank you for the richness of your word. We thank you for the good news of the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ, and we thank you that this atonement is an efficacious atonement. a redemption that actually redeems, an atonement that actually saves and secures the eternal salvation of all for whom it was offered. Lord, we ask that you would help us to receive and rest upon Christ as this perfect, all-sufficient Savior who rendered perfect obedience for sinners like us. And may you be glorified over us as we proclaim the good news of Christ who died for our sins and rose again that we might have eternal life. Indeed, that all who believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

    We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let us close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together this beautiful hymn that reflects upon the sufferings of our Savior. Let us sing this hymn, stricken, smitten, and afflicted with hearts filled with gratitude and love for the Savior who suffered for us. 342.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • How Beautiful Upon the Mountains!

    How Beautiful Upon the Mountains!

    About this sermon

    “Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion.” Jerusalem, who drank the cup of God’s wrath to the dregs, hears the call to wake to renewal, for the Lord has taken that cup from her hand. His people, oppressed by Egypt and Assyria, will know his name. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace… who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” The Lord has bared his holy arm before the nations. Then the call: “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing,” echoed in 2 Corinthians 6 and Revelation 18.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Well, friends, as we prepare for the preaching of God’s Word, please remain standing. I’d invite you to turn to our sermon text for this evening. Tonight we consider Isaiah chapter 52, verses 1 through 12. Isaiah 52, verses 1 through 12. You’ll find that beginning on page 728 in your Pew Bible. But I’d like to begin reading little bit back in chapter 51 verse 17, so I’ll read chapter 51 verse 17 through chapter 52 verse 12. Dear friends, this is the Word of God. Hear it with reverence and awe. Wake yourself, wake yourself. Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

    There is none to guide her among all the sons she has born. There is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have happened to you. Who will console you? Devastation and destruction, famine and sword, who will comfort you? Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net.

    They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine. Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God, who pleads the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more, and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who have said to you, bow down that we may pass over, and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.

    Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise. Be seated, O Jerusalem. Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

    For thus says the Lord, You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that My people are taken away for nothing? “‘Their rulers wail,’ declares the Lord, “‘and continually all the day my name is despised. “‘Therefore my people shall know my name. “‘Therefore in that day they shall know “‘that it is I who speak, here I am.

    “‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him “‘who brings good news, who publishes peace, “‘who brings good news of happiness, “‘who publishes salvation, “‘who says to Zion, your God reigns.’” The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice.

    Together they sing for joy. For eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart. Go out from there. Touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her. Purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight. For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

    The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Shall we pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word? Our Lord and Father in heaven, we would pray that by your spirit you would illuminate us, our minds, and open our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word.

    We thank you for this passage of holy scripture. We thank you, Lord, for raising up Isaiah and shaping him and forming him into a true prophet of yours, Lord. And we thank you for communicating your word through him to us. And we pray that by your spirit, you would help us to hear this word, to receive it into our hearts. And by your spirit, may your word find a lodging place in our souls and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives. We ask that you would bless me and be gracious to me, Lord, as I bring your word.

    Pray that you would set a guard over my lips and that I might speak only that which brings glory to your name and is faithful to your word. We pray all of these things, heavenly Father, through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is How Beautiful Upon the Mountains. And the children can be listening for these three key words, the words hope, joy, and home.

    Well, dear friends, when the Second World War finally ended, there were great waves of celebration both in Europe and in the United States. As one online resource describes it, people around the world celebrated the end of World War II with spontaneous massive street parties, ticker tape parades, and emotional gatherings of thanksgiving. Celebrations unfolded in two major waves. There was VE Day, May 8th, 1945, marking the end of war in Europe. And then there was V-J Day, August 14th, 1945, marking the final surrender of Japan.

    Well friends, even though we live almost 80 years after these events, we can imagine how the announcement of the ending of World War II must have resulted in just an overwhelming sense of relief and rejoicing among populations that had endured such a long, brutal war, a war that had cost so many lives and had brought such widespread destruction to so many nations. How welcome must have been the good news of the war’s ending to the multitudes of war-weary souls who had had to endure it. Well, dear ones, as joyful as the good news of the ending of World War II in 1945 must have been to the peoples of Europe and the United States at that particular time in history, in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the prophet Isaiah anticipates an even greater joy, and he predicts the announcement of the greatest good news there ever could be. And that is the good news of ultimate peace, happiness, indeed, salvation.

    As it says in verse seven of our passage for tonight, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. this proclamation of the ultimate good news would bring great joy to the nations of mankind.

    Now we need to remember the setting and context of our passage for this evening. We find it obviously in the latter section of the book of the prophet Isaiah. And it’s important to understand that this particular passage in Isaiah is a transitional passage. And by the Spirit’s inspiration, it’s a passage that prepares the readers for the climax of the servant of the Lord theme that we find so prominently in this particular section of Isaiah’s prophecy. And it’s also a perfect setting for or preparation for the climax of the messianic theme that is found more generally throughout the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now the language and the imagery, if you were paying attention when I read this passage, the language and the imagery that Isaiah uses in this passage, this language and imagery are not merely intended to communicate the Lord’s message to his covenant people, though certainly it does that.

    But it is designed to do so in a manner that makes a maximum emotional and personal impact. Portions of Holy Scripture, such as this one that we consider this Lord’s Day evening, not only underscore the fact that God’s Word is truth in the sense of accurate doctrinal truth. Yes, it is that, and it’s very important. But God’s Word is also beautiful. God’s Word is powerful. It is emotionally impactful. And certain sections, many sections are even aesthetically delightful.

    By the spirit of prophecy, Isaiah had not only predicted and warned about the Babylonian exile of the covenant nation for its idolatry and faithlessness in breaking God’s covenant, but Isaiah had also predicted the ultimate restoration and spiritual renewal of God’s wayward people, a restoration and renewal that would bring ultimate comfort to the chastened, humbled, exiled people of God. And that is, again, the major theme of this latter section of Isaiah. If you turn back to the beginning of this latter section of Isaiah in chapter 40, verses 1 and 2, what are the first two words that are stated in that passage? If you go back to Isaiah 40, 1 and 2, it says this. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Comfort, comfort my people.

    Now a sign of this restoration and renewal that would bring such comfort and that sign of such restoration and renewal would occur with Israel’s national renewal when the people would return to the promised land from their Babylonian exile. That’s the immediate historical event that is on Isaiah’s prophetic horizon. And yet, friends, The Israelites, not only would they return from exile and eventually rebuild the city and the temple in Jerusalem, but Israel’s national renewal in the post-exilic community points to something beyond itself. It points to the ultimate spiritual and eschatological renewal, the spiritual renewal of eternal salvation that God’s people would experience in the age of the Messiah, the era of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. and the suffering servant of Yahweh, whom we will be reading about more fully in the coming weeks.

    The announcement of this good news of restoration and salvation by heralds sent forth to proclaim the good news would not only bring joy to the redeemed among the Israelites, but the result would be, as verse 10 tells us, that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Again, to read verses 9 and 10. It says, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

    So brothers and sisters in Christ, tonight as we approach this glorious passage of God’s word, we see that in this passage, God’s people are awakened to the hope of renewal. This is the first point in your sermon outline if you’re following along. The people of God are awakened to the hope of renewal. Verse one begins, with the word awake. And it repeats it for emphasis.

    Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. Awake, awake, the people of God. God, by the spirit of prophecy, calls his people to awaken. It’s interesting that this can be compared to chapter 51, verse 9. In that particular passage, Isaiah, representing the people of God, cries out to God to awake. He says, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago, and so forth. Well there, God was petitioned to awaken to action for his people. But here, God himself calls his people to awaken.

    He’s calling out to his exiled people. He’s saying, awake, hope is on its way. And he goes and says to them, put on your strength, O Zion. They had been weakened by the chastisement and judgment of the exile, but now, Isaiah, in the spirit of prophecy, foresees a day when the exiled people of God will be awakened from their exile. They will be brought back to a strengthened position, and they’re called to put on their strength.

    Put on your strength, O Zion, and then, to kind of clarify and deepen what he’s saying there, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The term Zion, Jerusalem, the holy city, came to be classifications or words that indicated the people of God, the covenant people of God. And therefore, it would include us in the Church of Jesus Christ today in terms of its application. Now, what are the beautiful garments that we are to put on, O Zion of God?

    Well some scholars believe that this refers to priestly garments. The people will be called back from exile and they’re called once again to be a holy people so they are to symbolically at least put on these priestly garments. Others think that this is a figurative reference to royal wedding garments. So what is it? Is it priestly garments, wedding garments?

    Well, probably, you know, there’s arguments that could be made for either interpretation, but it seems to me that the latter makes more sense within the context of this passage, namely that he’s calling the people of God to put on the royal garments, wedding garments. Because after all, God calls Jerusalem to be seated in verse two. And if he’s talking about being seated on a throne as the Lord’s bride, his queen, then that would make sense that the beautiful garments we put on are to be the garments as the Bride of the Lord. We are the Bride of Christ after all.

    And then it makes this wonderful promise at the end of verse 1. He says, Now in this context Isaiah probably has in mind especially foreign invaders such as the Babylonians. The people of God throughout their history had had problems with foreign invaders, Gentile invaders who would come in and conquer them or at least influence them away from the Lord and into idolatry. But he’s saying, no, there will come a time when there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. But as one commentator reminds us, the exclusion of the uncircumcised and the defiled should not be read as the product of a harsh nationalism, but as a reminder that the alien had so often entered Jerusalem either to conquer or to pollute its worship or both. And so then it goes on to say in verse two, shake yourself from the dust and arise, be seated, O Jerusalem, loose the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. When God’s people were taken into exile in Babylon, they were humbled to the dust. They were brought down to the dust. They were put into bondage. They were enslaved.

    But now God is saying, I’m going to free you. So shake off the dust and arise. The Babylonian exile had indeed chastened God’s people, humbled them to the dust, but the Lord would graciously raise them up that they might take their seat as his royal bride. It reminds me of that line from that wonderful hymn, The Church is One Foundation. It says, from heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her and for her life. he died. And it’s interesting, the Lord says to his people, shake off the dust. I’m raising you up from the dust, in essence, is what he’s saying here.

    This contrasts with what the Lord predicted back in chapter 47, verse 1, where God would humiliate Babylon by causing the virgin daughter of Babylon to take her seat, not on a throne, but in the dust and on the ground. Back in chapter 47, verse 1, it says, come down and sit in the dust, oh, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.”

    So you see God is going to reverse, God is going to give a great reversal. Those who had been exalted, the Babylonians, would be humbled to the dust. Those whom the Lord in mercy actually had chastened and humbled would be raised up and once again seated on the royal throne.

    And then it goes on to say in verse 3, Yahweh handed his faithful people over to Babylon as a punishment. So Babylon paid nothing for God’s people, and therefore the Lord owed nothing to Babylon for the redemption of his people. That’s the thrust of what verse three is saying here. The Babylonian exile was a chastisement from the Lord, but their redemption was a free and sovereign gift of grace.

    It certainly wasn’t because they deserved it. They had been a stiff-necked and hard-hearted people. And then it goes on to say this in verses four and five. For thus says the Lord God, my people went down at the first into Egypt. He’s reminding them of their history of oppression. They had gone down into Egypt. The Lord had rescued them from Egypt, of course, to sojourn there. And the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.

    Now therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? What am I going to do about this? This is if the Lord is. musing within himself, speaking to himself, saying, what am I going to do about this? Their rulers wail, declares the Lord, and continually, all the day, my name is despised. Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, in that day, they shall know that it is I who speak. Here I am.

    The captivity of God’s people in Babylon would give occasion for the Lord’s name to be blasphemed among His enemies and the enemies of His people. After all, if you were a citizen of ancient Babylon, what would the conquest of Judah and Jerusalem, what would that mean to you? in the ancient pagan worldview that would mean that, well, Yahweh the God of Israel has been defeated. If His people have been defeated, that means their God has been defeated by our gods. Our gods are more powerful. And again, that would cause blasphemy against Yahweh the Lord.

    But God says, My name has been blasphemed among the Gentiles because of Israel’s faithlessness. It’s interesting that the Apostle Paul quotes from verse 5 in Romans 2, 24. If you turn to Romans 2, verse 24, where Paul is speaking of how the Gentiles blasphemed the Lord because of the Jews’ unbelief and faithlessness. It says this in verse 24.

    Let me back up and begin reading. in verse 17, but if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

    You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law, for as it is written, again, this is where he’s quoting from verse five of our passage, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. And that is a great, horrible thing, that God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles, but God is not gonna allow things to stay that way.

    For he goes on to say in verse six, therefore my people shall know my name, therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak, here I am. E.J. Young writes of this verse, he says, because God’s name is so continually blasphemed among the heathen, his own people will know his name. And that means, friends, one day God’s name will be known and acknowledged among his people in truth. And that will reassure the people of what God says at the end of verse six. And what does he say? He says, here I am. Once more, God’s gracious presence would dwell with his people.

    When God sent his people into exile, his presence, his gracious presence departed from Jerusalem and from the temple. The Lord, in a sense, abandoned his people. Not ultimately, of course, but there was a sense in which the Lord had departed. The people were separated from their God because they were separated from his land and his temple.

    But again, they weren’t ultimately separated because God was going to restore them. And once again, he would say to his people, here I am. I have come to dwell in your midst. God would once again be Emmanuel to his people. Even though God had predicted the Babylonian captivity of his sinful people, that was not the end of the story, praise be to God. His exiled people would be awakened to the hope of renewal. And as I stated before, what this means for us today, living as we do in this new covenant era, what this means for us today is that Israel’s national renewal in the post-exilic community points to the ultimate spiritual renewal provided to sinners in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

    Through the Gospel, God calls us sinners to awaken from our exile in sin and to put on your beautiful garments, which means ultimately to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you put on your beautiful garments? Have you put on the righteousness of Christ by faith? Have you put on the Lord Jesus Christ?

    I’m reminded of what the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3, 25 to 29. You’re welcome to turn there if you’d like. Galatians 3, 25 to 29. As he’s writing to a group of Gentile Christians, mostly Gentile Christians, he says this. I’m in Ephesians, no wonder I can’t find it. All right.

    Galatians 3, beginning at verse 25, it says, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have done what? Have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

    And again, as Paul says in Romans 13, verse 14, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. I believe that’s the verse that the Lord used to convert Saint Augustine. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on your beautiful garments. What are our beautiful garments? the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness, which we receive by faith and faith alone. Dear listener, have you put on the beautiful garments of Christ by trusting him and him alone for your salvation?

    So we see the promise of hope renewed. But next we see God’s people are summoned to the joy of their salvation in verses seven through 10. This good news of renewal and salvation is to be published abroad and disseminated not only among the believing remnant of Israel, but as we’re told in verse 10, among the eyes, before the eyes of all the nations. Once again, Isaiah by the spirit of prophecy foresees a time when even the Gentile nations afar off will hear and benefit from the good news of God’s salvation through the promised Messiah. Again, as it says in verse seven, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.

    Now, what’s this referring to? Well, in ancient times, when armies went out to battle, the folks at home wanted to know what was going on. They didn’t have access to, you know, instant access to what was going on in distant lands. And so, in ancient times, messengers were often sent out from the scene of battle to bring news of the battle’s outcome to the king and to the people back home, whether that be good news of victory or the bad news of defeat.

    But here, In verse seven, here the messenger brings good news, good news of victory, which Isaiah describes here as peace, good news of happiness and salvation. And this is a message that underscores the blessed truth that God’s downcast people so desperately needed to hear, especially in their exile. And that message is at the end of verse seven.

    The message is, your God reigns. Yes, you were defeated and taken off into exile. And yes, the Babylonians would interpret that as meaning, well, our gods are more powerful than the God of Israel. But God reminds His people, your God reigns, not Baal, not the gods, not Chemosh, not the gods of Babylon. No, your God reigns. And the exile did not take away His reign. The Apostle Paul applies this passage to gospel preachers, as we read earlier in the service. If you go back to Romans 10 and look at verses 14 and 15, notice how Paul lifts this language and applies it to gospel preachers.

    He says in chapter 10, 14 and 15, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? This is talking about called, ordained, sent out evangelists, gospel preachers. We have one in our own congregation whom we sent out this summer to the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey. How are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. How beautiful indeed are the feet of those who bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is the result of these messengers that bring the good news?

    Well then, verse 8, it says, The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice, together they sing for joy, for eye to eye they see. That means they see it clearly The return of the Lord to Zion, or as some versions indicate, the return of the Lord’s people to Zion. This is the return of the great king. Once again, the message will go forth. The watchmen of the city are pictured as seeing the heralds of good news clearly, and their response is an outburst of joy and rejoicing.

    And then it says in verse nine, break forth into singing. You waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The redeemed of the Lord are called upon to rejoice in our faithful covenant God who has comforted and redeemed his people.

    And then verse 10, the Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. The Lord’s arm represents his power, his power at work. He has bared his holy arm, he’s getting ready to act. In other words, he’s bared his holy arm. God’s arm, again, represents his power.

    Through the gospel, God displays his power unto salvation to all of the nations. of mankind. Again, all of this anticipates the Gentile ingathering that was to take place in this Messianic New Covenant age. And we see this prophecy being fulfilled as the Gospel goes forth, as sinners throughout the world are called to faith in Christ, as churches are planted among all the nations of humanity. Again, The Lord bears his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ ought to fill us with the joy of the Lord, just like it fills the watchman, as the message of the announcers, the heralds, fills the watchman in the city with joy in verse eight. The gospel should fill us with joy. Let us rejoice in the Lord always, and let us also seek opportunities to share the joy of the Lord with others.

    But this powerful passage ends with a call to depart, which is actually a call home. Let’s consider finally that God’s people are called home from a far country. God’s people are called home from a far country. The Spirit through Isaiah says this in verse 11, depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. Now in the historical context that is foreseen here by the spirit of prophecy, This would appear to represent the call of God’s people in their exile to depart at the proper time, to depart from the pagan land of Babylon, that unclean pagan land, that unholy land, to depart from the land and indeed to touch no unclean thing and to bear the vessels of the Lord. When the people went back, Cyrus had allowed them to take the vessels from the temple back with them to Jerusalem. But since Babylon in Scripture came to represent the pagan world in rebellion against God in general, this ultimately has a spiritual reference in that it calls us as God’s people to depart from our sins in repentance and to return in faith to a right relationship with God.

    We see that reflected in many passages, but just a couple of passages in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 6, 14 through 18, this ought to be a familiar passage to many of us. In that passage, 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14 through 18, it says this. Paul writes, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

    Believers are called to not be unequally yoked, to come out from the sinful patterns of this fallen world. And we see this call also in the book of Revelation, Revelation 18, verses 4 and 5, where clearly Babylon is being used in a figurative sense there to symbolize the kingdom of Satan, the fallen world system set in opposition to God. And it says this in Revelation 18, 4 and 5, Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, come out of Babylon, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” So we are called out from this sinful, fallen world.

    We are called to follow Christ. as holy pilgrims on our way to the ultimate promised land. We are being called home, heavenward to glory. But in terms of this call to the exiled people, there will be a difference between that call and the call of the Israelites out of Egypt.

    For verse 12, it says, for you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. You shall not go out in haste. When the people of Israel left Egypt, when the Lord, through Moses, took them out of Egypt, did they go at a leisurely pace? No, they went in haste. They went in haste.

    Let’s turn to Exodus 12, verse 33. Exodus 12, 33 says this. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, we shall all be dead. You see the contrast there? When it came to the Israelites going out of Egypt, they were compelled to go out in haste. But our passage for today, for this evening, verse 12 says, you shall not go out in haste. See the contrast there.

    Consider also verse 39 of this chapter. Verse 39, it says, and they baked unleavened cakes of dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. In this second exodus predicted by Isaiah here, God’s people would go out from Babylon, as one commentator puts it, not as panicky fugitives but in confidence. And the implication is we, as we make our pilgrimage out of this present evil age to glory, We are not doing so as overwhelmed fugitives. We are doing so in confidence because we walk with the Lord. And we are promised here. It says, the Lord will go before you. The God of Israel will be your rear guard.

    Again, this appears to be an allusion to the way that God led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness, escorting them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Again, Going back to Exodus chapter 13, verses 21 and 22, Exodus 13, 21 and 22, it says this.

    And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart before the people. And that pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was what the theologians call a theophany. It was a visible supernatural sign of God’s special presence with His people. He was accompanying His people. He was walking with them. He was protecting them. And that protection especially comes out in the crossing of the Red Sea in chapter 14, verses 19 and 20.

    It says, Then the angel of God, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was a cloud in the darkness, and it lit up the night, without one coming near the other all night.

    So that’s what Isaiah appears to have in mind as he writes these words here in verse 12. He says, the Lord will go before you. The God of Israel will be your rear guard. And think about it, think about it. What that means is that the Lord journeys with us. He goes with us, he accompanies us in our journey of faith, and he protects us by his grace.

    Beloved, this passage reminds us that we have been called to renounce this world of sin and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. The life of Christian discipleship is a pilgrimage. It is a journey of faith. We are strangers and exiles in this present Babylon, this present evil age. But in the gospel, God calls us to depart. He calls us to make our pilgrim journey of faith. And in calling us to make this pilgrim journey of faith, let us remember that in Christ, our gracious heavenly father is calling us not just to leave something, but he’s calling us home, home from a far country.

    Our pilgrimage in this present wilderness is ultimately a journey home to our heavenly homeland. a gradual departure from our exile east of Eden to the heavenly garden temple in Christ, where we will dwell with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells. That’s where we are headed, brothers and sisters. As we make this pilgrimage, this journey, this departure, let’s make it together. Let us journey together in love, in faith, in fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ, walking alongside each other as the Lord walks alongside of us. And let us keep our eyes fixed on the one who has called us home, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the author and the finisher of our faith.

    And all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s pray. Lord and Father in heaven, We thank you, Lord God, for the glad tidings of great joy. We thank you for the privilege of hearing this good news, and we pray that we would be a good news people, that our feet would be beautiful as your people as we seek to spread the good news of Jesus, as we seek to publish peace, bring good news of happiness, publish salvation, saying to Zion, your God reigns. Lord, we pray that these truths would make an impact upon our souls and redirect us, Lord, in our pilgrimage. Help us know each day that we are journeying to glory, to our heavenly homeland. For, Lord, you have called us home, and we are making our journey there. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time of worship this evening by rising and we’ll Ozai on haste, your mission high fulfilling.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • A Light for the Nations

    A Light for the Nations

    About this sermon

    In Isaiah 49 the Servant of the Lord speaks: called from the womb, his mouth made like a sharp sword, hidden like a polished arrow. Though he is called Israel, he is the Messiah, the true Israel in whom God will be glorified. When his labor seems in vain, he trusts his reward to God. It is too light a thing for him only to restore Jacob; the Lord makes him a light for the nations, that his salvation may reach the end of the earth, as Acts 1:8 unfolds. The one deeply despised and abhorred will see kings and princes bow before him.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Standing for the reading of God’s word in my sermon text this morning as we continue our journey through the book of the prophet Isaiah. We find ourselves this morning in Isaiah chapter 49, verses 1 through 7. You will find that passage on page 724 in your pew Bibles. The title of my sermon this morning is A Light for the Nations. So let us hear God’s word. Isaiah 49, verses 1 through 7.

    Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away.

    And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” And now the Lord says, “He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and to gather Israel to him. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.” He says, “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and rise up, and princes shall bow down, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.

    The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let us pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of His Word. Our gracious Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You that You are a personal God. You are a God who speaks, a God who communicates, and we thank You, God, for giving us the Scriptures, which are Your Word. They are a lamp unto our feet. They are a light unto our path. They are a guide to our way.

    We ask, O Lord, as we consider this portion of Your holy Word, that Your Holy Spirit, the Spirit who inspired this Word, would illuminate our minds, open our minds and our hearts, Lord God, that we may receive and see wondrous things in Your holy law this day. And so, Lord, bless me, Your servant, as I seek to proclaim Your Word. Give me the grace to do so with clarity and with the power of Your Spirit, Lord. And we pray that You would give us all open ears and open hearts to receive that which the Spirit speaks here in this portion of Your God-breathed Scriptures.

    In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. I want to encourage the children to listen for these four key words. They are written out in your sermon outline, but they are the words: Word, Servant, Mission, and Triumph. Word, Servant, Mission, and Triumph.

    Well, my dear friends in Christ, the Bible is the Word of God, and there are many evidences for that assertion that the Bible is in fact the Word of God. One of the many evidences for the trustworthiness of the Bible is the fact that the Bible paints a very realistic and true-to-life picture of the fallen human condition. If you are at all familiar with the Bible and its depiction of the human condition, you realize that the Bible gives a very unflattering picture of humanity. The scriptures honestly, accurately, and at times rather bluntly record the sins and character flaws of even the greatest biblical heroes of the faith. We would certainly expect such honesty and transparency from the divinely inspired Word of God. After all, God is a God of absolute truth, and we would expect His Word to be absolutely truthful in its depictions of the character of those it speaks of.

    To give a few examples, consider mighty King David in the Old Testament. Although King David was the sweet psalmist of Israel and the Holy Spirit used him to pen many of the Psalms recorded in the book of Psalms, our Psalter, the scriptures are very honest and unflattering toward him when they record his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, along with his deceitful plotting to cover it up. Or consider Peter the Apostle. Although the Apostle Peter was the spokesman for the other apostles and was indeed a faithful confessor of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and a zealous disciple who loved the Lord, the gospels record that he denied Christ in fear during the time of our Lord’s trial.

    The Bible is not propaganda. The Bible is not hagiography, where only the good qualities of people are recorded while their flaws are ignored. No, the Bible records truthfully the true character of the people described within its pages. While the scriptures teach that we were created in God’s image, humanity rebelled against God and fell into a state of sin and misery.

    As a result of sin and rebellion, the human race was plunged into a condition that may be described as spiritual darkness. For example, consider how the Apostle Paul describes the darkened spiritual condition of unbelievers, whom he refers to as Gentiles, in Ephesians 4, verses 17 through 19.

    I invite you to turn to that passage if you wish. Ephesians 4, verses 17 through 19. As he writes to these former pagans, now Christians, he urges them to walk in newness of life, in union with Christ. But he says this about those who are outside of Christ: “I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” How does he describe these Gentiles, these unbelievers?

    He says, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Due to their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

    How are unbelievers, those apart from Christ, described here? Their understanding is darkened. They are alienated from the life of God. They are separated from a life of communion, friendship, and fellowship with God. They are responsible for their ignorance. Their hearts are hardened. They are calloused, and so on. Again, my friends, this is certainly unflattering, but it is accurate—an accurate description of the fallen human condition.

    Now returning to Isaiah’s time and preparing to focus on our text for this Lord’s Day morning. It is important to understand that in the ancient historical context of Isaiah’s time, the Gentile world was immersed in the spiritual darkness of pagan idolatry. The knowledge of the true and living God was very rare among the Gentile nations during Isaiah’s day. At that particular point in redemptive history, the spiritual light of God’s saving revelation shone only within the boundaries of Israel, for only they had access to the oracles of God, such as the Law of Moses. Even there, the light of God’s saving revelation shone dimly due to the people’s faithless compromises with the idolatry of their Gentile neighbors.

    But friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning reveals a wonderful promise of God, a wonderful prophecy and prediction of God. God’s promise to raise up a faithful servant, a servant who would not only bring God’s professed people back to a right relationship with the Lord, but a servant who would serve as a light for the nations, not only for the nation of Israel, but for all nations, so that the Lord’s saving light may reach to the ends of the earth, as we are told in verse six of our passage for today.

    Now, friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is the second of four so-called servant songs that are recorded in this latter section of Isaiah. Those servant songs are typically regarded as chapter 42, verses 1 through 9. That is the first servant song. Our passage for today is the Second Servant Song. The third one is found in chapter 50, verses 4 through 11. And the final servant song is very familiar. It is the Suffering Servant passage, which goes from the end of chapter 52, verse 13, all the way through chapter 53.

    And as I have mentioned in previous sermons, one of the challenges, one of the interpretive challenges of the servant songs, one of the things that is confusing to some Bible readers, is that this servant of the Lord figure that appears in these servant songs sometimes appears to refer to God’s people collectively, that is, to Israel, which was the church under the old covenant. But at other times, the servant of the Lord appears to refer to a particular individual, namely, to the promised Messiah. There is thus an oscillation, a back and forth, between the servant of the Lord as the people of God and the servant of the Lord as the promised Messiah. And sometimes it is difficult to determine, well, which one is being spoken of here and why this oscillation, this back and forth? Friends, how do we explain this oscillation between God’s people as the Lord’s servant on the one hand and Christ as the Lord’s servant on the other?

    I believe this is best explained by the church’s union with Christ. Jesus himself is the messianic servant of the Lord, and as such, he is the embodiment of the true Israel of God. But because of our union with Jesus, the messianic servant of the Lord, we, his people, can also be regarded as the servant of the Lord, though in a secondary and derivative sense.

    If this is still confusing to you, let me assure you: hold on. This is a portion of God’s Word that requires our attention, that calls us to look for clues and to read deeply. You cannot simply skim over this portion of God’s Word and expect to understand it. We must engage in a deep study here.

    But even if this is somewhat confusing to you, in our passage for today, just understand that the reference here to the Lord’s servant clearly appears to refer to an individual, as I hope to show. That individual is none other than Jesus our Lord, the promised Messiah. With this understanding in mind, let us approach our text for today. As we consider the first four verses, we notice, first of all, the powerful word of the Lord’s servant. This is the first point on your sermon outline: the powerful word of the Lord’s servant.

    This passage begins with the following imperative: “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.” Who is speaking here? The context makes it clear that the Lord’s servant, Yahweh’s servant, is speaking. He says, “Listen to me, give attention.” These are two slightly different ways of expressing the same idea: pay attention, for this is important.

    Then it continues, “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name,” and so forth. Here we are introduced once again to the servant of the Lord. We see that the servant of the Lord, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, authoritatively summons the Gentile nations of mankind to heed his word. How do we know that he is speaking to the Gentiles? The language used in Isaiah, verse one, makes this clear.

    “Listen to me, O coastlands.” In the original context, this likely refers to the Mediterranean coastlands, which were inhabited by Gentile peoples. Then it becomes even clearer in the second part: “Give attention, you peoples from afar.” In other words, you Gentiles. You also need to listen. The Lord’s servant assures us of his origin: “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.”

    In other words, the Lord sovereignly prepared his messianic servant for his mission and called him to accomplish it at the right time, in the fullness of time. This call of God to the servant of the Lord, to his messianic servant, is similar to God’s call to Jeremiah. If you go to the book of Jeremiah, chapter one, and look at verse five, it says this: I am going to start reading from verse four of Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah comes right after Isaiah.

    Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Even before Jeremiah was born, the Lord was preparing him and had called him to be a prophet of God. This call was decreed even before he was born. How much more so is this true of the Lord’s servant, the Messiah, the promised Messiah, whom the Lord prepared and brought into human history in the fullness of time.

    Then verse two, the servant of the Lord, the Messianic servant, says this: he made my mouth like a sharp sword. Consider this imagery. People sometimes say that someone has a sharp tongue, which is usually not a compliment. But here, the Messiah’s speech is described as a sharp sword.

    Then it says, in the shadow of his hand, he hid me. Notice the imagery being used here. The shadow of God’s hand—the Messiah is hidden in the shadow of God’s hand. We will discuss what this means in a moment. Then it says, he made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. There is much military imagery here.

    And this imagery of the Messiah’s mouth being a sharp sword—what is this meant to convey? When we compare scripture with scripture, we see that Christ’s word is powerful and effective, just as a sword is. In fact, the word of Christ is often compared to a sword. Let me direct your attention to a few passages where the Messiah’s mouth and his words are described using this imagery. Look at Hebrews 4, verse 12. The author of Hebrews says this:

    For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God’s word is like a two-edged sword. It is powerful. It is effective. It accomplishes the purpose for which the Lord intends it.

    Consider also Revelation 1:16, the very last book of the Bible. Notice how Christ’s words are described in this verse:

    In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Then, remain in Revelation and turn to chapter 2, verse 12. It says: To the angel of the church in Pergamum, write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

    And then verse 16, it goes on to say this: Therefore repent, or I will come to you soon and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. And in the well-known passage in Ephesians chapter six, where Paul speaks about the whole armor of God, how does he describe the word of God? In Ephesians 6, verse 17, it says: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. My friends, the word of Christ is God’s word, for Christ is God. The word of God is like a sharp sword. It divides between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it exposes the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Then it goes on to say: In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me.

    What does this imagery point to? We know that God does not have a physical hand. This is what theologians call anthropomorphic language—human language used to help us, as limited and finite beings, understand what God is like. In this language, the image of God hiding his messianic servant in the shadow of his hand, what does it point to? The imagery likely refers to protection, meaning that God would protect the Lord until the time was right for the Lord to become the suffering servant. It may also refer to concealment, or it may refer to both. Indeed, Christ was hidden from the world until the fullness of time arrived, and then God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born as Jesus the Lord. In any case, we see here the image of the Lord shielding him. And again, he is described as a polished arrow in the Lord’s quiver.

    Yahweh’s messianic servant is an agent of judgment, because the image of an arrow is commonly used to represent judgment. In many passages of the Old Testament, God is portrayed as a divine warrior who sends His arrows into the hearts of those who oppose Him, and this represents His judgment. Therefore, as Christ calls the nations to listen to Him with authority, He reminds them that they deserve God’s judgment, and this serves as an implicit call to repentance. Thus, Yahweh’s messianic servant is an agent of judgment for those who do not repent.

    Then, in verse 3, it says: “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” At this point, some of you may be wondering, if you are paying attention, why the servant of the Lord is referred to as the Messiah, yet in verse 3 it appears that Isaiah identifies the Lord’s servant as Israel. How do we explain this? How do we explain this? Within the broader context of this passage, it is essential not to isolate verses from their context or take them out of context in a proof-text manner. Scripture and its various verses must be understood within a larger context. What is the broader context here? In verse 3, the servant of the Lord is called Israel, but it is clear from the broader context that this cannot refer to national Israel, considered as a collective body.

    Why do I say that? Because I have read beyond this immediate passage to verses 5 and 6 of the same servant song. In verses 5 and 6, the Lord says to his Messianic servant, “You will bring Jacob back to me, and Israel will be gathered to me.” In other words, the servant is distinct from Jacob as a people and from Israel as a people. And when you go on to verse 6, this becomes even clearer. The Lord says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel.”

    In other words, the servant is distinguished from Israel as a people. Why then is he called Israel in verse 3? Because Jesus, the promised Messianic servant, is the embodiment of the true Israel of God. He is the faithful Israel, the ideal Israel. And again, it takes careful reading to notice these clues in the context. But once you do, you will see that Christ is indeed the perfect representative of his people, Israel. And he is our representative as the church.

    Then it goes on to say in verse 4: “Yet I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing in vain. Surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God.” In this verse, the Lord’s servant seems to express a sense of failure. He says, “I have labored in vain,” yet he also expresses confidence that God will be his vindicator. He says, “Surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God.” When you think about Christ, was Jesus regarded as a success by most of his fellow Jews? Did most of his fellow Jews accept him as the promised Messiah? No. Many of Jesus’s Jewish contemporaries rejected him as the promised Messiah because they were hoping for a political Messiah.

    They were hoping for a Messiah who would come and conquer the Romans and reestablish the political kingdom of David. They were looking for a worldly empire. They thought of the kingdom of God in terms of worldly standards. And certainly by worldly standards, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to be a failure. For many of his contemporaries rejected him as the promised Messiah. Although he did at certain points in his earthly ministry gather a large following, yet toward the end of his ministry, many of his followers left him. His ultimate fate was that he died a horrible death by crucifixion. But we know, brothers and sisters, that was not the end of the story.

    God the Father vindicated and rewarded His Son by raising Him physically and bodily from the dead, demonstrating that the Father has accepted His Son’s sacrifice and that He indeed is the servant of the Lord, the promised Messiah, our Savior.

    In theological language, Christ’s estate of humiliation will precede His estate of exaltation. And I believe that is what we are given hints of here in verse four. In fact, verse four of our passage seems to anticipate the suffering servant theme that will come later in chapter 53. But friends, what are some takeaways from what we have observed so far in this passage of God’s word?

    Well, friends, we learn here that Christ’s Word is an authoritative Word. Christ’s Word is an obligatory Word. Christ’s Word is a Word that all nations are duty-bound to hear and to heed. Christ’s Word is a powerful and effective Word. It is like a sharp, two-edged sword. It is not optional, and to ignore it or dismiss it has grave consequences, in fact, fatal consequences. Now, we are told in the scriptures by the Apostle Paul, for example, in Romans 1, that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation through the obedient life, sacrificial atoning death, and glorious resurrection of Christ, the gift of salvation to sinners through Christ, the gospel message is the power of salvation to all who believe. But it also brings the sharp arrow of judgment to those who reject it. So what is your attitude toward Christ’s Word? And what is Christ’s Word?

    Again, as I said before, the Word of Christ is the Word of God because Christ is God the Son incarnate. And so you cannot, you know, some Bibles, some of you may have Bibles like this, where the words of Christ are in red in the gospel accounts. Well, if we are going to put the words of Christ in red, then the whole text should be in red. It is all the Word of Christ, because Christ is God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Word of Christ is the Word of God.

    Have you heeded the Word of Christ, which is the Word of God? And especially, have you heeded the Gospel? Have you received the good news of Jesus? Have you recognized that Christ is the only perfect, all-sufficient Savior for a sinner like you and like me? That He died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, that He rose from the dead so that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

    You can ignore that Word. You can ignore that message. You can reject it, but that rejection will have serious consequences. In the gospel, God offers His mercy, His forgiveness, and His grace. He freely offers His mercy and forgiveness. It is not something you must earn or deserve. It is a gift from God. As the Scriptures say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” We have nothing to boast about. Christ offers Himself to all who embrace, trust, and receive Him as their very own Savior and Lord.

    How about you? Have you heeded the word of Christ? Have you received Christ as your Savior? If not, may God open your heart today to repent, to turn from your sin and to turn to Christ as your only hope of salvation. And as you turn to Christ, you will discover, because He promises this in His Word, that His arms are wide open to all who receive Him, all who turn to Him. He will turn away no one who turns to Him. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, trust in Him, and you will be saved.

    Thus we see the Word of Christ here, the messianic servant. Next, we learn of the worldwide mission of the Lord’s servant, the worldwide mission of the Lord’s servant in verses five and six. After introducing Himself and calling the nations— not only the Jews, but all people of the world—to heed His Word, the Lord says, “Now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.”

    He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. In other words, it is not sufficient that the Messiah would come to rescue the remnant from among the Jewish people and bring them back to the Lord. He goes on to say, I will make you a light for the nation of Israel. No, I will make you a light for the nations, and that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

    In Isaiah’s time, this was a radical and revolutionary statement. God was merciful to Israel under the Old Covenant so that eventually the Messiah would be born in the line of David, and then the gospel would go out, not only in Jerusalem and Judea and even Samaria, but to the ends of the earth. So what do we learn about the servant’s mission here? In verses 5 and 6. Again, we learn that it is a worldwide mission. First of all, his mission is to bring Jacob back to him, as it says in verse 5.

    And he repeats it by saying that Israel might be gathered to him. Now, some commentators look at this and say, well, obviously this refers to the Jews’ return from their Babylonian exile. And certainly that may be the more immediate, initial historical fulfillment of this prophecy. But this is not merely referring to the Lord returning his people, the Jews, from their exile into the promised land. Because notice what it says: that the Lord’s servant has been formed in the womb to do what? To bring Jacob back to the land? No. to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him.

    Ultimately, this speaks of spiritual restoration to God. The professed people of God under the Old Covenant, for the most part, except for a chosen faithful remnant, had largely compromised with idolatry. Most of the people had turned away from the Lord, and they were not in right relationship with God. Therefore, God sent them into exile to chasten them and to humble them. But the promised Messiah would not only bring them back from exile; the Servant of the Lord would ultimately bring them back to God, restoring their right relationship with God. Yet this is not only good news for God’s people, for the Jews as God’s people.

    The Messianic Servant of the Lord is also called to be a light for the nations. It is significant that Jesus Christ reveals Himself as the light of the world. He speaks of Himself in this way. Let us turn to John 8, verse 12. In John chapter 8, verse 12, the Lord Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Christ Himself is the light of the world. However, brothers and sisters, we in the church are also called to be the light of the world. In fact, Jesus says that His disciples are the light of the world. How can this be? Because we are united with Him who is the light of the world. In union with Christ, the light of the world, we as His disciples are to be the light of the world. Jesus says this in Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16, within the well-known Sermon on the Mount. He is speaking to His disciples, His followers.

    He says, “You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill.” This is not referring to America or any other nation on earth. It refers to God’s people, the church. The church is the city on the hill. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Christ is the light of the world.

    In union with Him, we, the church, are also, in a subordinate and derived way, the light of the world. This raises the question: how does our Lord Jesus, the one revealed in this passage as the messianic servant of the Lord, carry out His mission as a light for the nation by bringing the saving light of God into the nations of this sin-darkened world? How does He accomplish this? Ordinarily and primarily, He does so through His church. We bring the light of the gospel into the world through our missionary and evangelistic efforts as the church.

    This is emphasized in many places in the New Testament. For example, you are all familiar, I imagine, with the so-called Great Commission, Matthew 28:18–20, where the resurrected Jesus is speaking to the apostles. He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Christ is the messianic servant, a light for the nations, and He spreads His light through the missionary efforts of His church.

    We see this also reflected in Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. Let me read those verses. They help to establish the structure of the book of Acts. It says, concerning the Lord Jesus, after he had risen from the dead and before his ascension, when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

    He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. If you continue reading in the book of Acts, it is interesting to note that later on, in Acts chapter 13, verse 47, Paul and Barnabas are preaching the gospel. The text says, in verse 47, “For this is what the Lord has commanded: I have made you a light for the nations, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” They are preaching to those who need to hear the gospel. In verse 46, it says, “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you have rejected it and have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life.”

    Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the nations, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. He is saying this is what the Lord has said to us as apostles, and yet they are quoting from verse six of our passage for today. Again, that is the messianic servant who is the light of the nations, but he spreads his light through the preaching of his people, his servants. So, friends, let us as his church seek to bring the light of Christ and his gospel into this sin-darkened world by faithfully proclaiming the truth of the Lord. But finally, in this passage, as we conclude our time in the word this day, we see here the ultimate triumph of the Lord’s servant, the ultimate triumph of the Lord’s servant in verse seven of our passage for today.

    It says, Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. This is a perfect description of Jesus in his estate of humiliation, for he was despised by the Jewish nation as a whole. He was rejected by them and he willingly subjected himself to the rulers of that day. But it goes on to say, kings shall see and rise up, princes shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. Our Lord, we are told here, was deeply despised by his own people. This reminds us of the description of the suffering servant of the Lord in Isaiah chapter 53, verse three, where it says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. But friends, though our Lord was despised and rejected even by his own professed people, this messianic servant of the Lord was ultimately destined to be triumphant.

    Because the Lord had chosen him, his ultimate triumph was assured. Therefore, in the end, he would be honored. His estate of humiliation would give way to his estate of exaltation. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, it appeared that Satan had won. It appeared that his enemies had gained the upper hand. But that is not the end of the story, because on the third day, the stone was rolled away, and Christ rose from the dead, victorious over sin, death, and hell.

    What encouragement should we as his followers take from this? A few things. Let us always remember, brothers and sisters, that we serve a triumphant Savior. Our Savior was a man of peace. The gospel was spread, at least in the initial centuries of the Christian era, not by the power of the sword, unlike Islam, which was spread by its warlord prophet through violence. No, the gospel was spread through proclamation, through the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. It was spread peacefully because Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

    He triumphed on the cross. It appeared that Satan and the world had triumphed, but Jesus had actually triumphed because he paid the penalty for sin on the cross of Calvary. He conquered sin and death and hell by his death, followed by his resurrection.

    Sometimes the world looks upon the church and views us as losers. And sometimes we may feel that way. The world seems so successful, and we, the church, seem to struggle so much. Yes, we struggle in this present evil age. Yes, we battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Yes, we grow weary in the fight.

    But let us remember that Christ is coming. Let us remember that we are already victorious in Him. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and He loved us unto death. He died for us, He rose for us, He triumphed for us, and we are on the winning side, no matter what it may look like in this present age. Let us also remember, I think another takeaway we can draw from this passage is that the Christian life is a cruciform life, which means the Christian life is not merely a series of victories one after another. There is a sense in which we are victors, we are conquerors in Christ already, in principle. Yet we continue in this present evil age to do battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We continue to struggle with sin. We continue to struggle daily to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

    This is the way it is. Just as it was for our Savior. For Him, the cross came before the crown. His death came before His resurrection. And this sets the pattern for our lives as His followers. In this present age, we bear the cross. But the time is coming when we shall wear the crown, and it is all by His grace alone. This is so important because, you know, do not expect a life without struggle if you wish to be a follower of Jesus. Life is hard, and life as a follower of Jesus can be hard. It is a great blessing, though.

    Because we know that our sins are forgiven, we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We know that the Lord is with us in all our trials and struggles. And we know that we are headed for our heavenly home. So let us remember this as we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the messianic servant of the Lord, the one who is the light for the nations. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for rescuing us from the spiritual darkness of sin and bringing us new life in Christ, bringing us the light of the gospel. We pray that you would give us the grace as followers of Jesus to reflect that light, to share the light of the good news with others as we confess him, as we follow him, and as we seek to live for him. We pray all these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name. And all God’s people said, amen. As we close our time of worship, let us rise and sing together Psalm 22: “The ends of all the earth shall hear.”

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The God Who Carries Us

    The God Who Carries Us

    About this sermon

    Isaiah 46 pictures Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon, loaded on weary beasts as their people flee. People must carry their idols, set them in place, and secure them; when someone cries to them, they cannot answer or save. People know God in their hearts, as Romans 1 teaches, but suppress that knowledge and exchange his glory for images. The living God is the opposite: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” He declares the end from the beginning and brings his righteousness near to the stubborn of heart.

    More sermons from Isaiah · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    The title of my sermon this morning is The God Who Carries Us. Children, there are five key words I would like you to listen for today: irony, idolatry, power, salvation, and stubborn. Friends, today we often hear complaints about the loss of civil discourse in our society. These complaints come from academics, journalists, and various public speakers. This concern is significant when you consider the reality of our time. We live in a period of deep division.

    In our divided times, basic politeness, common courtesy, and the ability to engage in calm, respectful dialogue with those who hold different views seem to be increasingly rare in our culture. At the same time, modes of communication such as harsh sarcasm, bitter and aggressive criticism, and hostile hostility have become so common that the use of words to harm others has lost its power to shock. I am old enough to remember a time when the way people, even Christians, spoke to one another—especially online—would have been considered shocking thirty or forty years ago. But that behavior is now commonplace.

    Now, I suspect that a major contributing factor to this loss of civil discourse is the conversational culture created by social media. On many websites, people can go to the comments section and make harsh personal attacks on strangers using a computer keyboard or phone. These attacks often occur in secrecy, with individuals hiding their identity behind a vague username that provides near-total anonymity. Well, pastor, are you here to give us a sermon against technology? No. I am not opposed to technology, and I am certainly not against the responsible use of social media. It can be a positive tool when used properly. Of course, I recognize that there is a place for sharper forms of communication, such as irony and sarcasm.

    In fact, as we will see in just a few moments, God himself, in his word, sometimes uses these sharp forms of communication to make his point, to confront his people with their sin, so that they may turn back to him in repentance, and to warn the wicked of their sinful ways. However, having said that, let us remember, brothers and sisters, before we begin our text for today, that as followers of Jesus Christ, we should always maintain a tone of gentleness and respect in our communication, even toward those who do not believe. This is especially important when we are sharing the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I would remind us of what the Apostle Peter wrote to persecuted Christians. In 1 Peter 3, verses 14 through 17, he says, that even if you suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.

    Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Now, how are we to do that? He says, yet do it with what? Not with harsh criticism or mockery, no. Do it with gentleness and respect, having a clear conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who speak evil of your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

    But dear friends, having reminded us of our Christian duty to pursue holy speech in our communication with others, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning does in fact give us an example of the legitimate use of irony. After all, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is filled with a tone of irony, as the Holy Spirit, through the prophet Isaiah, uses clear and forceful language to expose the foolishness of idolatry, the emptiness of idol worship, the spiritual blindness of idolaters, and also to call God’s people back into a relationship and loyalty toward their incomparable God. If you have read through the book of the prophet Isaiah, you will remember or recognize that, especially in this latter section of Isaiah, Isaiah often engages in what might be called an anti-idolatry argument, where he uses strong language to confront the foolishness and emptiness of idolatry. And our passage for this Lord’s Day morning represents a climax in Isaiah’s anti-idolatry or anti-polytheistic argument. In this argument, Isaiah draws a sharp contrast between, on the one hand, powerless, helpless idols, such as the idols of Israel’s oppressors, the Babylonians, on the one hand, idols which must themselves be carried.

    And on the other hand, there is the one true and living God of Israel, the God who carries us, his redeemed people. As we turn our attention to our text for today, we first learn here about the powerlessness of idolatry. The powerlessness of idolatry. Let us look at the first two verses. Isaiah begins this chapter as follows.

    He says, “Bell bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are on beasts and livestock. These things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop, they bow down together. They cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.” Now, if you are a careful Bible reader, what kinds of questions should enter your mind as you read this passage? First, you should ask yourself, who is Bel? Who is Nebo?

    What is Isaiah referring to by these two names? The name Bel was equivalent to the Canaanite deity Baal. Here, Bel probably refers to Marduk. Marduk was sometimes called Bel Marduk. Bel Marduk was the patron god of the great empire of Babylon in the ancient world.

    What about Nebo? Or sometimes Nebo is referred to as Nabu. Nebo, or Nabu, was the son of Marduk. He was the chief deity of Borsippa, which was located south of Babylon. Nabu was believed to be the god of learning, the god of writing, and therefore he was a favorite god among the intellectual classes in Babylon. In the religious life of Babylon, the images of both Bel and Nebo, or Nabu, were commonly honored by being transported in religious processions.

    They were exalted and carried about in religious processions so that they might be honored. Is that what is happening in our passage for today? No. In this passage, the chief gods of the great Babylonian empire are depicted not as being raised up and carried about in religious processions. No, they are depicted as being bowed down in utter humiliation and dishonor. As they are transported, not in celebratory religious processions, but instead carried away by weary beasts of burden into captivity.

    And as they are taken into captivity, they will go into oblivion. How many worshipers of Baal and Nebo do you know today? Where is the religion of ancient Babylon today? I am sure that if you do an online search, there might be some cults that acknowledge ancient Babylonian deities, some neo-pagan groups that recognize these gods, but the worship of Bel and Nebo is no longer practiced. They have gone into captivity; they have gone into historical oblivion.

    All of this implies, beloved, the Lord’s hand of judgment. The Lord’s hand of judgment would fall upon the Babylonian empire and its so-called gods. In the ancient Near East, it was believed that as it went with the gods of the nation, so it would go with the nation itself. And as these gods were carried away on beasts of burden into captivity, so the people of Babylon would themselves go into captivity. Consider this: the Babylonians, as Isaiah the prophet declared through the spirit of prophecy, predicted that one day Judah would go into Babylonian captivity. Babylon was used as an instrument of God’s judgment against His faithless, covenant-breaking people, and they were taken by the Babylonians into captivity. Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, and the people were taken into Babylonian exile. But the nation that God had used to take His faithless people into exile would itself one day be judged by God and would be taken into captivity.

    And so we have the irony of it all. Again, Isaiah had prophesied that the Babylonians would one day conquer Judah and take God’s faithless people into exile. They would one day be conquered by another king, a great king, King Cyrus, whom we learned about on the last Lord’s Day. That King Cyrus would conquer them, and they would themselves be taken into captivity.

    Again, look at verse two, as the deities of the great empire of Babylon are depicted as being bowed down in utter humiliation and defeat. It says, “They stoop, they bow down together; they cannot save the burden.” These gods cannot save the burden of their images, which are being carried upon weary beasts of burden, while themselves go into captivity.

    Now let us consider the significance of Babylon. It was a major power in the ancient Near East. It was a force to be reckoned with, but the Lord ultimately defeated Babylon. Yet as we compare Scripture with Scripture, we learn that Babylon in Scripture came to represent not only the ancient empire of Babylon, but also more generally the fallen world system of humanity as it is organized in rebellion against God. Therefore, Bel and Nebo represent not only ancient Babylonian religion, but also the religion of fallen humanity.

    We see this, for example, in the book of Revelation. Revelation 18, verses one to three, also mentions Babylon. Here the Apostle John, under the Spirit’s inspiration, mentions Babylon, even though Babylon had been destroyed centuries before. Yet the name Babylon came to represent something broader. It says in Revelation 18, one to three: “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory, and he came out with a mighty voice.”

    Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. Notice the emphasis on unclean. Consider the significance of ceremonial uncleanness under the old covenant. This represented separation from God and God’s holiness.

    Thus, this Babylon represents humanity in its unclean, fallen state, in rebellion against God. Verse three says: “For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Because Babylon came to represent, in a broader sense, fallen humanity’s religion and rebellion against God, I believe it is legitimate to infer from our passage today that the Babylonian gods Bel and Nebo symbolize the religion of fallen humanity. These so-called gods not only burden the beasts that carry them, but they are powerless to carry the weight of their own images, let alone the burdens of their worshipers.

    Now let us move to verse six. Speaking of those who worshiped Bel and Nebo and similar idols, the text says: “Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the scales hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god.” Then they fall down and worship. Here, friends, we see the irony and vanity of idolatry. The worshipers of idols—consider this—they are bowing down to what? They are bowing down before the work of their own hands. Even though they adorn this work with precious metals such as gold and silver, it remains the work of their own hands. They have paid a goldsmith to create these gods, and then they bow down before the products of their own labor. What foolishness, what utter folly, what complete vanity.

    Isaiah gives a similar anti-idolatry argument a few chapters earlier, in chapter 44, verses 9 through 20. Although I did not preach through that passage, I would like to read it now, because it is clear and straightforward. Let us return to Isaiah 44 and read verses 9 through 20. As I read, I want you to notice the tone of sarcasm as the Lord confronts the foolishness and emptiness of idolatry. Isaiah 44, beginning at verse nine.

    All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, so that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human.

    Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together. You can see here, can you not, that the Lord strongly opposes idolatry? God is offended by the worship of false gods. He alone deserves our worship. The passage continues in verse 12: the ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. Here the text describes the process of making idols. The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals.

    He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint. Thus, he engages in hard and laborious work to produce this idol. Verse 13: the carpenter stretches a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the form of a man, with the appearance of a human being, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree, or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar, and the rain nourishes it.

    Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes part of it, and here is the irony: he takes part of it and warms himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also, he makes a god and worships it. He makes an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat. He roasts it and is satisfied. Also, he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm. I have seen the fire.”

    And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my God.” And here, Isaiah confronts the utter spiritual blindness of those given over to idolatry. He says, “They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.”

    No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten, and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

    Beloved, again, we see the vanity and irony of idolatry. But then verse seven of our passage, after this idol is built, what must be done with it? Can it move of itself, of its own volition? No, it says in verse seven, they lift it to their shoulders, they carry it. They set it in its place and it stands there. It cannot move from its place.

    If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. Like their images, which must be secured in place and made immovable, the so-called gods of these images are supposed to represent, those gods are actually powerless to act, powerless to save. Why? Because of the simple fact that they do not really exist. They are utter vanity.

    Now again, this is very plain and simple Bible truth to those of us who know Christ and believe God’s word. But this was truth that needed to be declared even among the professed people of God in Isaiah’s day. What are some of the things that we can learn from our passage for today? First of all, friends, just as man-made idols must be carried by their makers because they are powerless, so man-made religion is powerless to save.

    Religion is not a good thing when we speak of man-made religion. In fact, religion of this kind is positively harmful. It is, in fact, damnable. Man-made religion can save no one. It can only confirm unrepentant sinners in their sin. In fact, all man-made religions only end up burdening those who choose to follow them, just as Bell and Nebo burdened the poor beasts that had to carry them off into captivity. Why then do so many choose false religion? Because the human heart is dark and proud. Man-made religion caters to the pride of fallen man.

    It tells fallen man that he can do something to achieve his own salvation. He can achieve whatever the goal of the religion is—nirvana, or salvation, or paradise—by his own efforts, or at least in part by his own efforts. But the true and living God says in His word: “No, we cannot save ourselves. It is all of God, all of grace. It comes from the divine initiative alone.” That is what the gospel means. That is why the gospel is good news. It is good news because we cannot save ourselves. The good news is that what we cannot do, Christ has done for all who trust in Him. To reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of man-made religion is to reject true spiritual liberty for a burdensome bondage and spiritual slavery.

    While the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter five was not confronting technical idolatry, he was confronting the Judaizing heresy, which was a false gospel. This false gospel pointed people to their own keeping of the law rather than to Christ. And insofar as people were pointed to themselves, the Judaizing heresy was in fact idolatrous. But what does Paul say in Galatians five?

    He says, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Christ frees you, brother or sister, from the guilt, the penalty, and the power of sin. He has already freed you. You are forgiven, as I mentioned earlier in the service. The sin that was against you has been nailed to the cross. It has been buried in His tomb. It has been cast into a sea of forgetfulness. You are free in Christ. Paul says, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.”

    Therefore, stand firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Do not submit to man-made religion, to works righteousness, or to idolatry in any of its forms, whether crude or sophisticated. Let us not reject the gospel, because in rejecting the gospel, we reject liberty and choose enslavement. Another thing we learn from our passage for today is that all idolatry and man-made religion ultimately represents the worship of the self. For to worship an image fashioned by the imagination and hands of man is ultimately to worship man.

    Isaiah gives us some detail about those who fashion these idols in verses six and seven. They lavish gold from the purse, they weigh out silver in the scales. There is great planning that goes into it. There is skilled artistic work by the goldsmith that goes into it. It is fashioned by the imagination, art, and labor of man.

    And so ultimately, it is about man, not about the true and living God. Now we live in a day when there is much secularism. Secularism pervades our society today. And sometimes it is called secular humanism, where man has made himself the measure. Man and man’s reason are exalted as the highest authority.

    But there is also religious idolatry. Religious idolatry is ultimately godless humanism disguised as religion. All idolatry is ultimately the worship of self. While false gods are incapable of acting, incapable of carrying their worshipers, incapable of saving, the true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the blessed triune God revealed in the scriptures and confessed by us Christians, is the God who acts.

    He is omnipotent, all-powerful. He is able to accomplish all His holy will, and He is powerful to deliver, powerful to save. Because He is the true and living and omnipotent God, He does not need to be carried by us, His worshipers. No, brothers and sisters, He is the God who carries us.

    This brings me to my next point, as we consider the power of the living God. We have considered the powerlessness, the impotence of idolatry and of idols. Now let us consider what we learn here about the power of the living God. Look at verses three and four. God confronts His people.

    He says, “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel.” When God says, “Listen,” it is time to pay attention, time to hear, not merely with the ears, but to hear God’s word so that we may trust and obey it. “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been born by me from before your birth.”

    See, God is saying, you do not need to carry me. You have been born by me from your birth, carried from the womb, carried from the womb. This is one of the most comforting verses, to me at least, in the book of Isaiah, verse 4. The Lord says, “I will carry and will save.” If God says, “I will,” He means it. He will, because He is able to do it.

    Here again, Isaiah clearly shows the sharp contrast between the Babylonian gods, which had to be carried, and the true and living God of Israel, who has carried His people from before their birth. Notice, by the way, the maternal imagery used here.

    Certainly, God is our loving and gracious Father in heaven. The Trinity includes God the Father. We do not have the right to change such designations. God is our Father in heaven. Yet our Heavenly Father is not only a God who protects and provides for us; He is also a God who has a maternal love for us. He is a Father in heaven who nurtures, carries, and comforts us. What comfort there is in this truth.

    Then the Lord says in verse five, “To whom will you liken me, and make me equal?” The people of God had wandered away from the Lord. They had turned after and worshiped the gods of the nations, such as Bel and Nebo, and many of them fell into the worship of these gods. But the Lord asks them, “To whom will you compare me? To whom will you liken me and make me equal?”

    You cannot make a likeness of me. This is one reason why, in the second commandment, God says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Any image that humans make of God does not reflect the infinite glory and majesty of God, no matter how artistically elaborate the artwork may be. God cannot be compared to any created thing, especially not to dead, lifeless, powerless, non-existent idols, for He is the incomparable one.

    Then, skipping down to verse eight, as God continues to confront His people, He says, “Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors.” God calls His people, “you transgressors.” You see, God’s people had repeatedly broken His covenant by worshiping the idols of the nations.

    So here God confronts them honestly and forthrightly with their sin. However, at the same time, He does not confront them to crush them. His motivation in confronting them and in using this biting irony throughout this chapter is not to crush or destroy His people, but to restore them. He is motivated by love when He confronts them. Here, God confronts them with their sin.

    At the same time, He graciously summons them to remember their God and His grace to them in the past. Then He says in verse nine, “Remember the former things of old.” What is He talking about there, the former things of old? Well, Isaiah does not say directly, but such things would include God’s gracious call to Abraham and God’s deliverance of His enslaved people, Israel, when they were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh. These are the former things that they are to recall, that they are to think upon, so that their faith might be renewed.

    And brothers and sisters, this is why we come together, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day, because we are so forgetful. This is why Jesus gives us the Lord’s Supper, where He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We need to call to mind what the Lord has done for us in the past. The Lord who has acted for the salvation of His people in the past is the God who is still with us in the present.

    Here God asserts in this passage His sole unique godhood, and by implication, we have a dogmatic denial of polytheism and idolatry in all of its varied forms, whether we are speaking of its ancient crude forms or more sophisticated secular forms. God says, “Remember the former things of old, verse nine, for I am God and there is no other.” Is that plain enough?

    He says I am the one, there is no other God. I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. The proof that He is the only true God is found in predictive prophecy. He declares the end from the beginning, for He has planned the end from the beginning. He is the sovereign God. And from ancient times, He speaks of things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose.” He calls a bird of prey from the east—that is a reference to Cyrus, the king of Persia, the man of My counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I will do it.

    God can say this because He is the living God. He is not like the idols. He is the living, sovereign, omnipotent God. But the idolaters have denied this God. What is it that motivates such idolatry? Briefly, we are reminded of what the Apostle Paul writes about idolatry in Romans chapter one. I will read a few verses here: Romans 1, 18 to 25.

    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. General revelation, God’s revelation in creation and conscience, makes it abundantly clear that the true and living God is, and everyone knows it in their heart of hearts—even the most vocal atheist who claims, “No, there is no God.” They know in their heart of hearts, because they were created in the image of God.

    But what is the dynamic of idolatry that Paul describes? He says in verse 21, although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and did what? They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity and so forth. And he says, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever.

    Amen. Let not the people of God fall into that kind of error. But verse 11 is particularly comforting, because again, Isaiah, through the spirit of prophecy, predicts a time when the people of God will go into Babylonian captivity. But in this passage, he comforts the people of God, both in his day and in the days of the exile. There will be a change. God will bring deliverance because God will call a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.

    He says, I have spoken, I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, I will do it. I will deliver. I am not going to leave you alone and abandon you entirely in your Babylonian exile. I am arranging for your return. And he will use Cyrus, the king of Persia, who would conquer the Babylonians and pave the way for the Jewish exiles to return to the promised land.

    We learn in this passage, especially in verse 10, where he says, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. God’s sovereign counsel shall stand. I am reminded again of what Paul said in Ephesians 1, verse 11, where he is talking about predestination. But Paul says this.

    He says, in Him—that is, in Christ—we, the believers, in Christ, have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. He is able to work all things according to the counsel of His will because He is the living God, the all-powerful God, and we can trust in Him. Here are a few takeaways from this point.

    First, God is the incomparable one who carries His people. In union with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, our gracious God and heavenly Father, carries us. Therefore, dear listener, do not look to the false gods of man-made religion, philosophy, or ideology to carry you, for they cannot carry anything. They are dead, they are vain, they are lifeless. Instead, look in faith to the true and living God, revealed in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sinners and rose from the dead, so that all who trust in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life. Unlike the powerless deities of paganism, the true God is all-powerful, and therefore He is able to carry out all of His holy will. Let us, brothers and sisters, therefore, trust in Him. But what about the people of God?

    They are confronted in this passage by God as transgressors. Their hearts are stubborn. Their necks are stiff. This brings me briefly to my final point. We see in the closing verses of this chapter that salvation has been brought near to those with stubborn hearts. Salvation is brought near to those with stubborn hearts. The Lord says, “Listen to Me, you who have stubborn hearts.” Again, He is still addressing His people. They have hardened their hearts against the Lord. They are stubborn. They are set in their ways. They have dug in their heels.

    But he says, listen to me, you stubborn in heart, you who are far from righteousness. And in this passage, righteousness is a synonym for salvation. You are far from righteousness. You are far from salvation. Listen to me, the Lord says. They cannot bring salvation near to themselves. They cannot attain salvation by their own efforts because they are far from righteousness, far from salvation. But the Lord says, I bring near my righteousness. It is not far off. And my salvation will not delay. I will put salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory.

    Here we find hope for the stubborn heart. My friends, the all-powerful sovereign God is able to soften even the most stubborn-hearted. And that should give you and me hope as you think about family or friends or loved ones or neighbors or coworkers in your life who do not know the Lord and who may be stubborn and resistant in their unbelief. That very stubborn one may be one of God’s elect. And God is able to soften that one’s heart.

    Remember what he did with the apostle Paul? Saul, the great persecutor of the church, the Lord was able to soften and humble his heart, turning his heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Our sovereign God is able to do the same. He has done that with us. In our stubbornness, he softened our hearts and drew us with the cords of love unto himself.

    Let us trust that he will do that with others as we pray for the lost in our lives. Let us not lose hope for them. And let us always put our trust in the sovereign God. Let us pray that God would show his sovereign grace by bringing his salvation near, even to the hard-hearted. Amen, let’s pray.

    We thank you and praise you that you are the true and living God. You are not like the gods of the nations that must be carried and that burden their followers. You are the God who carries us, the God who relieves our burdens. Lord Jesus, you are the Savior who says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Grant, Lord, that we on this Lord’s Day would not only enjoy physical rest from our daily activities, but would find our spiritual rest in Christ our Lord, for it is in his name that we pray. God’s people said, amen. Let us close our time of worship by rising and singing together number 485, “Like a River Glorious.”

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.