Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Highlights from the Prophet Isaiah

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

Zion, Herald of Good News

About this sermon

“Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news… say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” God calls the church to be a herald of good news. The gospel is simple enough for a child yet deep enough to occupy the greatest minds, and believers never graduate from it. The Lord God comes with might to reign in redemptive power, his reward with him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd, gather the lambs in his arms, and gently lead those that are with young. Christ is that shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep and intercedes for them.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word as we continue our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah. We are in this latter section of Isaiah’s work, this book, chapter 40 through the end of the book. And today we’re going to consider a brief passage, Isaiah 40, verses nine through 11. We’re gonna begin reading in verse six to remind us of sort of the broader context here, but let us hear God’s holy word. We’ll find this in page 712, and you’ll hear a few about this. Beginning at verse six, reading verse 11. A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows on it.

Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. May God add his blessing to this reading of his holy word. Let’s pray for the Lord’s blessing. Proclamation of his word. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you’ve given us in the scriptures a clear word, for they are your word.

We would pray, Heavenly Father, that by your illuminating spirit, that you would help us, Lord, to understand the significance and importance of this portion of scripture. We ask that you would give us open minds and open hearts to receive the truths contained in this precious portion of your holy word. And we ask that you would grant me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare it with clarity and power, with the assistance and grace of your spirit. We pray these things for Jesus’ sake and in his name, and all of God’s people said, amen, amen. You may be seated. I hope my sermon today is Zion, Herald of Good News, and you’ll see in your sermon outline the three key words that you can be listening for. I especially encourage the children to listen for these words, the words herald, power, and shepherd.

Herald, power, and shepherd. Well, my dear friends, in Christ, once again, we find ourselves in this latter section of the book of the prophet Isaiah, a section where the overarching themes include wonderful things, such as the themes of comfort, salvation, and, of course, the ultimate eschatological hope of the Messianic age. The earlier sections of Isaiah tended to be dominated by the themes of judgment and wrath, although they were interspersed with themes of comfort and salvation as well, but this latter section of Isaiah throbs with the hope, the ultimate hope, that the promised Messiah, Jesus our Lord, would bring. By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Isaiah the prophet foresees a time when God would accomplish, in essence, the second exodus for his people by rescuing them from their Babylonian exile and by bringing them back to the promised land.

However, the ultimate and greater exodus, or deliverance, that God will accomplish for his people is not going to be merely the return of the people of Israel from their national exile in Babylon, but rather their salvation from the greatest bondage of all, the bondage of sin. This salvation will be accomplished through the work of the promised Messiah, the suffering and victorious servant of the Lord that is predicted in this latter section of Isaiah. This good news of God’s return to shepherd his people, which will be fulfilled through the promised Messiah, this good news must not be kept secret. Instead, it is a glorious message. Indeed, it is the greatest good news ever. It is a message that must be heralded loudly and vigorously by the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the church which is described in this passage as the true Zion of God, the true Jerusalem, and it must be proclaimed loud and clear.

Why? So that all of God’s elect might heed the cry found in verse nine, the cry, behold your God. As we turn our attention to our passage for today, brothers and sisters, I would first of all point out here that the church is presented as a herald of good news. Let’s consider, first of all, the church as a herald of good news. Verse nine says, go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Now, what is a herald? A herald is someone who publicly announces and proclaims and declares something. A herald of good news is someone who brings good news and openly testifies to it.

We’re told in this passage, we have this image of the Lord through Isaiah calling the Zion of God, the church, to go up on a high mountain. It says, go up to a high mountain. What was this imagery of a high mountain meant to evoke in our minds, in our thoughts? Well, basically, what the Holy Spirit through Isaiah is saying to the church is don’t hide the gospel. This reminds me of what our Lord Jesus says in that famous sermon on the mount when he preached in Matthew 5, 14 through 16 about not hiding your light under a basket. In fact, let’s turn there briefly, Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16. And while Jesus is not specifically addressing the matter of the church’s evangelistic and missionary mandate as such, he does speak of the fruits of the gospel in the lives of his disciples.

He says in Matthew 5, 14, 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, he’s speaking to his disciples, to you and me as his followers, 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. In other words, friends, the gospel and its fruits, its effects in our lives must not be hidden from a lost and dying world that desperately needs to hear the good news. But instead, it must be prominently displayed, it must be proclaimed, heralded far and wide. Now this, of course, Jesus in telling us not to hide our light under a basket, this does not mean trying to impress others with an ostentatious or self-righteous display of pretended piety, nor does it mean shoving the gospel down the throats of those who’ve made it very clear that they are uninterested in the gospel.

Remember, Jesus did say don’t cast your pearls before swine. Instead, it means letting the gospel of Jesus Christ so saturate your soul and so influence your daily living that others may see your good works, which are the fruits of the gospel, and therefore may glorify your Father in heaven. The ideal way that they would glorify our heavenly Father is through their conversion by the sovereign grace of God. So getting back to our passage here in Isaiah, go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, but some of you may have different translations such as the New International Version, and you may be scratching your heads and thinking, well, wait a minute, it doesn’t quite read that way in my Bible version. In the ESV, the version that I’m using to preach from, it says, O Zion, herald of good news.

In this translation, Zion itself is the proclamer, the herald of the good news, but in versions like the NIV, we read this. You who bring good news to Zion. See, in the one translation, Zion is the proclamer of good news. In the other translation, Zion is the recipient of good news, which translation is most likely. Both translations are technically possible, but brothers and sisters, from the grammar and context, I believe it is more likely that versions like the English Standard Version are correct, and that here in this passage, Zion, which is also called Jerusalem, we’ll talk about the meaning of those terms in a minute, Zion or Jerusalem in this instance is the herald, the proclamer of good news, not the recipient of it. And understanding in view, O Zion, herald of good news, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.

Here, the terms Zion and Jerusalem are ultimately being used, not simply in an old covenant national theocratic sense. No, friends. Remember, in this section of Isaiah, Isaiah is looking forward to the Messianic Age, and he is speaking of the people of God, the covenant people as a whole. Here, the terms Zion and Jerusalem are ultimately being used to describe God’s covenant people in the Messianic era. He’s using old covenant language to describe new covenant realities of the Messianic Age. And so this is describing the church of Jesus Christ, and not just the church in general, but the church conceived of as a missionary people. The church in its missionary capacity. Friends, in its evangelistic and missionary capacity, Christ’s church is to boldly and to confidently herald forth the good news of salvation through the obedient life, the atoning death, the glorious resurrection and ascension of Christ, and his intercession for us at the right hand of the Father.

This is the main subject of the church. This is what we are to proclaim to a lost and dying world. And notice how the church is to proclaim this. Lift up your voice, how? In timid tones, you might wanna consider the gospel, you know, it might change your life. Now lift up your voice, what? With strength, oh Jerusalem. Lift it up, fear not, don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. My friends, the gospel is such good news, and it is such certain news. There is so much certainty attached to the gospel. Jesus, after all, rose from the dead and demonstrated himself to be the son of the living God in power by his resurrection from the dead. He was seen by multiple eyewitnesses. There is no fact in human history more certain than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and thus no fact in human history more certain than the truthfulness of the gospel message.

That being the case, the gospel message is not to be preached in a wishy-washy, uncertain manner or in timid tones. The church’s preachers are not to proclaim the gospel merely as if it were a simple theory or a possibility or good advice. It’s not just good advice, it’s news from God. I remember a time a while back when it was popular, probably under the influence of the so-called seeker-sensitive movement in church growth, to encourage non-believers, the non-church, to try God or to try Jesus. In fact, I remember many years ago watching an interview, a prominent megachurch pastor was being interviewed by a secular journalist who was kind of pressing this pastor on the claims of Christ to be the only way to God. How can you say that Jesus is the only way? And this probably well-intentioned pastor said to this journalist, you know, just try Jesus.

Give him a try. It kind of didn’t set right with me. Try Jesus, try the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, just try him out, sort of like you would try a new food item or try on a new clothing outfit and, you know, if you didn’t like it, you could exchange it or dispose of it. No, Jesus does not just command people to try him. The scriptures tell us that God commands all people everywhere. No one is accepted. God commands all people everywhere, you, me, everyone, to repent and to believe the gospel, the good news. So the gospel is not to be trotted out in uncertain or timid tones. Instead, it is to be heralded forth with bold confidence in the God who certainly must and certainly does keep his promises. And to whom is this gospel to be proclaimed?

Well, obviously it’s to be proclaimed to those who are outside the covenant community, to those who are outside the church, but notice it’s interesting here in verse nine, Zion and Jerusalem are to lift up their voices and address whom? Whom are they to address? It says, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. The cities of Judah, that’s where God’s covenant people lived in Old Testament times. And what does this imply? You know, there’s this concept out there, this idea out there seems to me that among in the Christian world, many seem to think, well, you know, the gospels, that’s for the lost so that they can come to faith in Jesus and be saved. But now that we’ve heard the gospel, received the gospel, trusted Christ, now that we’re saved, we don’t need the gospel anymore.

We can kind of move on from the gospel to more important things or other things that will lead to Christian maturity. Well, friends, yes, the good news is to be proclaimed to the lost, to those outside of the covenant community who’ve never heard it before. But the gospel is also to be proclaimed to God’s people, spoken of here as the cities of Judah. You see, friends, I don’t know about you, but I need to hear the gospel frequently because I often forget it. I often forget its implications. I often find myself, that little Pharisee in my heart, tending back towards the work’s righteousness mindset. In order for us as believers to experience gospel comfort proclaimed in this passage, we need to hear the gospel over and over and over again. I’m reminded of the line in that wonderful hymn I love to tell the story.

There’s a line that says, I love to tell the story for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. Yes, the gospel is simple enough in its basic contours for even a child to understand it. But the gospel of Jesus Christ, as you plumb its depths and look at all of its nuances and contours, is rich and deep. It’s something that the greatest theological minds can spend a lifetime studying. It is so glorious, so rich, so deep. Believer, you and I will never graduate or move on from the gospel. If we do, we’re in trouble. We Christians need the gospel too. We need to be reminded time and time again that we are loved, that Christ died for our sins, that we are clothed in his righteousness, that with respect to our position before the Father, our standing before God, God is no longer angry with us.

Yes, the Father chastens us for our sins that we might share in his holiness. We can experience his fatherly displeasure, but he never abandons us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. These are truths that we must build our lives upon and never graduate from. We Christians need the gospel too, lest we forget and fall back into self-trust and get ourselves back onto a treadmill of works righteousness. Yes, the pastor, yes, doesn’t say we should move on to maturity as Hebrews, the wonderful portion of the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, reminds us to press on to move on. Yes, it’s true. We must press on in maturity, to maturity in our understanding of the faith, but we will never be mature enough in our understanding for the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

We’ll never be too mature for that old, old story. If you think you’re too mature, too spiritually experienced and too grown up in your faith to not need the gospel, well, you’re not as mature as you think you are. The more we grow in our faith, the more we realize how desperate we need Jesus and his love. So let us as the church make it our goal not only to love the good news, not only to believe and proclaim and hear the good news over and over again, but let us as a church determine to be the herald of good news that God in his word calls us to be. So here the church is a herald of God’s of good news, the good news of Jesus. But secondly, we read in this passage of God’s promised return to reign in redemptive power, God’s return to reign in redemptive power.

It says at the end of verse nine, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. And then go on to, let’s go on to verse 10. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. Behold your God, behold your God. Wait, how can we behold God? He’s invisible, right? God is a spirit, he doesn’t have a body like we do. He doesn’t, we can’t see him. Well friends, the scriptures tell us that in Jesus Christ we behold the ultimate revelation of God for Jesus is the God man, the word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. To use Pauline terminology, we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And where do we see the face of Christ revealed?

We see the face of Christ revealed in the scriptures, in the gospel message. My friends, notice here that the gospel is radically God-centered, not man-centered. The Holy Spirit through Isaiah says, behold your God. He doesn’t say, behold, what a wonderful experience the Lord has in store for you. Behold what blessings the Lord has for you. Certainly there are so many blessings that flow out to us from the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the gospel is ultimately about God and his glory. It’s not about you, ultimately. It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus and Jesus alone. The gospel is radically God-centered. In fact, the gospel can be summed up in the word, Emmanuel, which means God with us. In a nutshell, the gospel is God with us because the gospel is Jesus Christ. He is our Emmanuel.

Oh, Christian, behold your God. Behold Jesus Christ, your incarnate, Lord and Savior. God in grace has returned to his exiled people. He in his grace has returned to us and brought us back to himself in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, his son, our Savior. And so it says in verse 10, behold, that means pay attention, this is important. Behold, the Lord God comes with might. The omnipotent strength of God is highlighted here. He comes with might and his arm rules for him. The Lord God comes in might to redeem and rescue his people. And he comes to redeem and rescue us not merely from national exile, but from sin. And notice this language about the arm of the Lord. Now, of course, God does not, in his divine nature, does not have a literal arm.

God’s arm, however, is frequently used in the scriptures to represent his almighty power and strength, both his power and strength to judge and his power and strength to redeem and heal. He is powerful to judge. And as in this case, he is powerful to save. This language is reminiscent of God’s power in rescuing Israel from their slavery in Egypt by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. This kind of language is frequently used in referring to God’s power that he displayed in redeeming Israel from their slavery in Egypt. For example, if you turn back to Deuteronomy four and look at verses 32 to 34, where Moses, the prophet, is preaching to the children of Israel as they’re preparing to go in and conquer the promised land, he says this to them in Deuteronomy chapter four verses 32 to 34, it says this.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and still live? Or has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war? And then catch this, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes, this is why it’s this kind of language that point, as Isaiah uses this language of God’s arm, his strength that leads us to the conclusion that he’s speaking here of a second or greater Exodus in our passage for today.

In any case, he has redeemed us by his mighty outstretched arm, and especially the outstretched arms of our savior who stretched out his arms on the cross to bear our sin and to redeem us by his grace. And then what’s the effect of that? It goes on to say, behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. Recompense brings to mind judgment. The Lord will judge the enemies of his enemies and the enemies of his people. But in what sense is his reward with him? Does this reward refer to a reward that God distributes to his people or is this a reward that God takes to himself, that God in effect has earned for himself? Well, friends, I believe the context would favor this latter view. In other words, that this is God’s reward.

And what is God’s reward? God’s reward is his redeemed and rescued people, the elect, those whom the Messiah would save through his redemptive work. As Dr. E.J. Young puts it in his commentary, he says, it is God himself to whom a recompense is due, for he has merited it. A workman has earned his hire as the fruits or reward of his work, but God is deserving of his reward for his great victory against the enemy, the deliverance of man from his sin and its consequences. This is his great work. The hire then is found in the redeemed of the Lord, the little ones who are mentioned in the following verse. Although he comes as a strong one, yet it is as a shepherd that he feeds his sheep. You know, the scriptures frequently speak of the father giving a people to his son and of the son being rewarded with those for whom he accomplished the saving work that the father had given him to do.

And so ultimately, the elect are Christ’s reward, the reward for his redemptive work in the case of those whom the father has given to him. Just to give you a sampling of this, let’s turn to the Gospel of John. Look at John 6, beginning at verse 37, John chapter 6, verse 37, we read this. Jesus says, all that the father gives me will come to me. Now, let me pause there, notice. Jesus says, the father has given a people to his son. And how do those people behave? Well, they come to the son. And then he goes on to say, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. You wanna come to Jesus, he’s not gonna cast you out, he’s gonna welcome you. All that the father gives me will come to me.

And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Or skip ahead to John 17, that wonderful chapter with our Lord’s high priestly prayer to the father. In John 17, verses one through three, we read the following. It says, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to whom? To all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. And then skip down to verse six. Jesus says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. The father has given a people to his son as a gift and Christ, as Christ’s reward, the reward for his redemptive work. If you skip down then to verse nine, Jesus says, I am praying for them, those whom the father has given to him. Notice he says, I’m not praying for the world.

Jesus does not intercede for everyone. He intercedes for those for whom he died. I’m not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And then verse 24, if you skip down to verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. His reward is with him. And brothers and sisters, we are his reward. The father by his sovereign grace has given us to his son and Christ, and we are the reward of our savior’s redemptive work, praise be to God. But that brings us to our final consideration from this passage. We see in this passage also God revealed as the divine shepherd of his sheep.

This is the final point in your sermon outline, God as the divine shepherd of his sheep. It says in verse 11, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his blism and gently lead those that are with young. Think about it. God is presented here as the mighty one whose mighty arm and outstretched arm, his art stretched arm, his mighty power has redeemed his people. He is a God who has returned to dwell with his people in redemptive power. But he’s also a tender shepherd. The mighty redeemer God is the tender shepherd of his elect flock. As one commentator puts it, the glorious Lord comes to his people as a conquering king, a generous benefactor, and a gentle shepherd. And of course, you’re all familiar with the theme of the Lord as our shepherd, as the shepherd of his people.

That is a frequent theme throughout the scriptures. It’s a theme, for example, you know this, Psalm 23, right? And by the way, it’s very tempting for us to read passages like Psalm 23 in sort of a sentimental way. But Bible commentators and scholars classify Psalm 23, I believe, as a royal psalm because in the ancient world, kings were often described as shepherds. So this is not presenting, you know, the Lord as sort of a syrupy, gushy kind of God, who, a God of sloppy agape or what have you. This is, the Lord is our shepherd. Yes, he’s tender, but he’s the king. The Lord, Yahweh, is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.

Or we think again of how Jesus calls himself the good shepherd. Isn’t that interesting? God in the Old Testament is revealed to be the shepherd of his people, but Jesus proclaims himself as the good shepherd. Clearly, Jesus is claiming divinity for himself, that he is God. In John 10, verse 11, Jesus says this, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And then if you skip down to verses 14 through 16 of chapter 10, 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 I have other sheep that are not of this fold. He’s talking there about the Gentiles. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock and one shepherd. No more division between Jew and Gentile, one body of Christ, Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus. And then if you stay in John 10 and skip down to verses 27 to 30, some of the most comforting verses in all of scripture, Jesus says this, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. Not just I know about them, I know them. Which in biblical terminology, that means I love them. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father’s hand. I and the father are one.

Do you hear the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd? You say, well, I’ve never heard Jesus speak to me audibly. Ah, but if you’re a believer, you hear the voice of Christ. Where and how? We hear the voice of Christ speaking to us in the scriptures because this is his word. And we hear it not just as interesting facts, we hear it as a message of life, a message of life. A message of hope. We hear it because we know it applies to us personally. Dear listener, are you one of Christ’s sheep? Do you hear his voice? The voice that tells you, repent and believe the gospel, the good news. If you heed that voice to turn to 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 eternal life.

If you heed his voice coming to you in the gospel, you are one of his sheep. By the grace of God, trust him and follow him. And let us brothers and sisters as those who have come to hear the voice of the good shepherd, let us as the Zion of God, as the church of Jesus Christ, be a herald of good news to a lost and dying world. And all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you that you, oh God, have given us such good news. May we not keep it to ourselves. May we as a church shout it abroad, herald it abroad, proclaim it, announce it. We pray Lord that you would help us by your grace, not only to herald the good news, but also to hear it, receive it, embrace it over and over again.

Give us the grace to grow in our understanding of the depths and riches, the wonderful contours of the gospel. We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, amen. As we close our time today, let’s rise and we’ll sing. Number 419, oh 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.

February 1, 2026
God’s Enduring, Unfading Word

About this sermon

“All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades… but the word of our God will stand forever.” Human life and earthly plans are fleeting, like the rich fool whose soul God required of him that night and those who boast about tomorrow in James 4. God’s word endures. Some say the Bible is inspired but not inerrant, but that would make God himself subject to error. God used human authors with their own styles and personalities, but what they wrote is his word, without error and enduring forever.

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Sermon transcript

The title of my sermon this morning is God’s Enduring, Unfading Word. And children, the three words to listen for this morning are the words voice, transience, and word. Voice, transience, and word. And that word transience has to do with what is temporary, what is brief. Well, friends, recently I read a comment written by a professing Christian who shared what he believed about the Bible. And in the comment, the author wrote something like this. He said, I believe the Bible is inspired, but not inerrant. I believe the Bible is inspired, but not inerrant, he said. In other words, the author of this statement seems to believe that the Bible is at least in some sense inspired by God, but at the same time subject to error. Now, think about the implications of that position of that statement.

If the Bible is God’s divinely inspired word, but at the same time contains errors, does that not mean that God himself is subject to error? If the Bible is really God’s word, but at the same time it’s a book filled with errors and inaccuracies, does this not imply that the God who inspired the Bible is somehow unreliable or untrustworthy? For example, when it comes to fleshing out the logical implications of this position, that views the Bible as divinely inspired, yet errant, subject to error when it comes to fleshing out the implications of this position. If we take this position that the Bible contains errors when it comes to, say, historical details, or when it speaks about the workings of the natural world, the world that scientists study, well, then how can we trust what the Bible teaches us about spiritual and eternal matters, matters such as the way of salvation, matters such as the Bible’s teachings on ethics and godly living and Christian discipleship?

In other words, if the Bible is inaccurate and subject to error when it speaks about earthly things, then why should we trust it when it speaks about heavenly, spiritual, and eternal things? A Bible that is filled with errors would imply a God who is untrustworthy and whose word could not be relied upon as an enduring, unfading word. Instead of the Bible as God’s unchanging, enduring, unfading word sitting in judgment over us, we would then get to subject the Bible, and thus to subject the God who is revealed in the Bible, to our own puny, finite, subjective judgments, and to the ever-changing cultural fads and trends of our time. Now, of course, in all fairness to this gentleman who wrote those comments, there are some misunderstandings and misconceptions out there in the contemporary world about the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible.

And so, for example, the doctrine of inerrancy does not preclude the scriptures from using figurative language or from employing ancient literary devices to convey the truth of God. Nor does inerrancy prevent the Holy Spirit from using a wide variety of different literary styles and genres. The Bible contains things like historical narrative, poetry, and highly symbolic language, apocalyptic language, such as what you find in the book of Revelation. And so, for example, when it comes to historical details, there are places in scripture where the biblical author uses round numbers instead of technically exact figures. And likewise, there are numerous genealogical lists in the scriptures that are clearly selective and not exhaustive in the genealogical information that they convey. But friends, the use of rounded numbers and selective genealogies, those were commonly accepted literary devices and conventions in biblical times.

And the ancient readers of those texts wouldn’t have viewed them as errors, as some today would view them as errors. And likewise, the scriptures often use what the theologians call phenomenological and figurative language when describing nature. For example, think about the term sunrise and sunset. Let’s say that you and your spouse, you and your wife go to take a vacation and you travel to a part of the world that’s and you’re on a beautiful beach and you’re observing a beautiful sunset. And you say to your wife, honey, isn’t that a lovely sunset? What would you think if your wife turned to you and said, are you a scientific illiterate? The sun does not set. Come on. I mean, the sun revolves around the earth. The earth revolves around the sun. Or think about the weatherman on TV, the meteorologist.

If the meteorologist on TV tells you, well, the sun is going to rise tomorrow at such and such a time and set at such and such a time, are they guilty of conveying error? No, they’re simply using ordinary, non-technical, non-scientific language. The term sunrise and sunset simply explains the world in the way that we see it from our perspective here on terra firma. That’s what it looks like to us. Likewise, think about when the Bible tells us about the four corners of the earth. When the Bible uses that language, it’s not guilty of scientific error because in using that kind of language, the Bible is not intending to give us a scientific statement about the earth’s geography, nor is it teaching us that the earth is flat. But friends, misconceptions and misunderstandings about inerrancy aside, in line with the scripture’s testimony to itself, we as Orthodox Presbyterians, we believe that the Bible is the inspired, that is God-breathed and inerrant Word of God.

And because it is inspired and inerrant, it is also enduring and unfading, just as God Himself is enduring and unfading in His eternal being and perfections. Well, friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is just one of many scriptural testimonies to the enduring Word of God. The Holy Spirit, through Isaiah the prophet, sets human transience, human temporality in sharp contrast to the enduring, abiding Word of God and by implication to the enduring trustworthiness of the God who inspired, who breathed out His unfading, enduring Word. Here we see man’s temporality contrasted with the permanence of the set purposes of our sovereign God and we, and to the abiding trustworthiness of His enduring Word. And so as we turn our attention to our text, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we are first of all confronted in this passage with a voice to be reckoned with.

That’s the first point in your sermon outline. Consider first a voice to be reckoned with. It says this in verse four, a voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. Friends, as we considered on the last Lord’s Day, chapter 40 begins a major new section here in the book of the prophet Isaiah. In this chapter, the Holy Spirit leads the prophet Isaiah to envision a future time when God’s exiled people, who will have experienced the effects of God’s stern word of judgment that he communicated in the first section of the book of the prophet Isaiah, when his exiled people would now hear a word of gracious gospel comfort from the Lord who promises to deliver them out of their exile.

And so after an opening declaration of gospel comfort, which sets the tone and trajectory for this latter section of Isaiah in verses one and two, we next read a call for God’s people to prepare the way of the Lord through turning back to their God in repentance and faith as they anticipate the coming of the promised Messiah. We consider that in verses three through five of this chapter on the last Lord’s Day. But in our passage for this morning, the Lord through Isaiah now calls us to remember and take to heart that while human life and human beauty and human endeavors are temporary and fading, nevertheless, that should not cause us to be hopeless. Why? Well, because of the promise given in verse eight that the word of our God will stand forever. Praise be to God.

Now regarding the ancient context, the historical context of our passage, Dr. G.W. Grogan in his commentary, I think puts it well. He says, the exile itself must have made the people aware of their frailty. He’s talking about the Babylonian exile. What unites all human enterprises is their transience. Flowers may look beautiful, but where will they be tomorrow? God is the one enduring reality in a constantly changing world, and he himself designed it so. I remember way back when I was doing my internship in a church in New Jersey. I was driving down the road one day, and I saw a billboard advertising a local church. And the slogan of that church was this, and I love this slogan, never changing truth for an ever changing world. Never changing truth for an ever changing world. That’s what this passage points us to.

It points us to the fact that the word of our God endures forever. Life changes, times change, but God’s word never changes. And even the powerful Assyrians and Babylonians in the ancient world, who at the time seemed so permanent, so stable, so powerful, so undefeatable, even those great empires would eventually fade away. Now our passage for this morning is the third of three passages here in the beginning of chapter 40, in which an unidentified voice is called upon to cry or to herald forth a message. And so for example, if you go back to verse two, it says this, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and do what? Cry to her. And then skip down to verse three, a voice does what? A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Well our passage for today, we read of this voice again calling an unnamed recipient to cry out.

A voice says cry, and I said, what shall I cry? And while the voice of the one who commanded to cry, and the one who is commanded to cry, are technically unidentified, and while Bible scholars have debated how to understand this lack of clear identification, it seems quite clear when you look at the context, my friends, that the voice that speaks to us, the voice that says cry, is none less than the voice of God. It is a divine prophetic voice, a voice that speaks forth the very word of God. Passages like this, one beloved, remind us that our God is a God who speaks. He is a communicative God. He is a personal God, a God with whom we can have a personal relationship, a God with whom we can commune and fellowship with.

He is the speaking God, the living God, a personal God of revelation who communicates His will and His word to us. And this passage also reminds us that the scriptures are ultimately His word and not merely the words of His human servants, the prophets and apostles. I may have shared this before, but there was a time when I was a college student, my senior year of college, I lived in the international dormitory on our campus, and I befriended a fellow in my dormitory from Pakistan, and he was obviously a Muslim, and in my desire to witness to him, I gave him a copy of the New Testament. And he took it, he was very grateful and gracious in receiving the New Testament, and he perused through it. He came back to me later with a question.

He said, Jeff, I’m looking in this book that you gave me, and I see it says the gospel according to Matthew, the gospel according to Mark, Luke. I see the letters of Paul to the first Corinthians, second Corinthians. He says, this is the word of man, isn’t it? It’s not the word of God. He had a particular conception about how God’s word would be communicated based on his understanding of the Quran as the word of God, which of course, we reject the Quran as the word of God. But what this friend of mine didn’t understand is what the apostle Peter says about scripture in passages like 2 Peter 1, 19 through 21. Let’s just turn there briefly. 2 Peter chapter 1, look at verses 19 through 21. Peter writes this, and he says, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

And then especially catch verse 21, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were what? Carried along by the Holy Spirit. Men indeed spoke, the prophets and apostles did indeed speak. They did indeed write. And we, when we look at their writings, we can detect their writing styles, their personalities come through in that which they wrote. But ultimately, it’s the Lord using these men as his instruments to convey his word. The Bible is God’s inerrant word coming to us through the writings, the words of men, God’s word coming to us, if you will, in servant form. But that doesn’t make it the word of man. It is the word of God because why? Well, as Peter reminds us in verse 21, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

They were supernaturally inspired by the Holy Spirit to write precisely what they wrote. So dear ones, while the Bible was indeed written by human authors who used their own writing styles and who employed the various literary genres and literary conventions of their time to communicate their message, the ultimate voice behind what they wrote was none other than the voice of God himself. For what they wrote was not primarily nor ultimately a human word, but rather it was God’s inspired, God-breathed, inerrant word. You know, sometimes you hear unbelievers say, oh, if only God would talk to me or speak to me, I’d believe him. When they have in view an audible voice, if God would speak audibly to me. And sometimes you hear, I wish God would just speak audibly to me, directly, audibly to me.

I can guarantee you based on records that we have in Scripture where God does speak audibly, that would be a terrifying experience. Remember the children of Israel gathered before Mount Sinai and God starts to speak. He speaks the 10 commandments. And what do the people say to Moses? You talk to him. You talk to the Lord Moses. Don’t let God speak to us. We don’t want to die. It was a terrifying experience. And so it has been said, rightly, that if you want to hear God speak, if you want to hear with your ears God speak, then read the Bible out loud, because the Bible is God’s word. After all, the voice we hear in the Holy Scriptures is not ultimately the voice of the human author. In this case, the ancient voice of the prophet Isaiah.

Instead, my friends, what we have in the Scriptures is the voice of God himself. And that, my friends, is a voice to be reckoned with. Think about that. Whenever you read the Scriptures, whenever you take the Scriptures upon your lips and recite Scripture, you are taking the very word of the creator of the universe upon your lips. You are speaking his word and you are hearing his word when it is read to you. Dear listener, have you reckoned with the voice of God speaking by his Spirit in the Scriptures? Have you reckoned with the voice of the law, which thunders forth and confronts you with your sin and shows you that you, like all people, fall short of the glory of God? And does that not strike you with fear, knowing that the wages of sin is death?

Have you heard the word of God’s law showing you your sin and your desperate need for the Savior? And have you heard the word of the Gospel that speaks peace and rest and salvation to those who rest in Christ? The word that says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Have you reckoned with the word of God and do you embrace the Bible for what it claims to be, namely, the very word of God? But in terms of what the divine voice in our passage for this morning declares, let us next consider the message proclaimed by this divine prophetic word. And the message is a contrast. The first part of the message has to do with the transience of human life and earthly endeavors.

And this leads me to my next point in your sermon outline. We consider next the transience of human life and earthly endeavors. Again, Isaiah writes, a voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? Here’s the first part. All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. When the breath of the Lord blows on it, surely the people are grass. Friends, the uncomfortable truth that the Lord’s voice calls upon us to recognize in this passage is the truth that all of human life and all of human endeavors in this fallen sin cursed world are ultimately temporary, ultimately fading, ultimately transient. This is just part and parcel of the vanity of vanities of living life under the sun here in this fallen world.

To borrow language from the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, you remember? The preacher declares, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And the preacher also says, there’s nothing new under the sun. Life in this fallen world is ultimately futile because it’s transient, temporary. This truth about the transience of human life has recently hit home for me as we approach February. Since the end of this February will mark the 10-year anniversary of my father’s passing. It was almost a decade ago that I received a surprise early morning phone call that woke me out of my sleep. And it was a call from England where my father had been living towards the end of his life. There was a nurse on the other end, lady speaking with a pleasant British accent, but the message was not pleasant.

She informed me that my father was not long for this world and I was not able to be there. I did ask for a chaplain and a nurse to be present with him. I asked the chaplain to read some scripture and pray with my father. A few hours later, I got another phone call informing me that he had passed away. That was 10 years ago. But when I think about this, it feels hard to believe that it’s been so long. The memories of processing my grief and making quick travel plans to England to make funeral arrangements for my father and to settle my father’s affairs make it feel like only a short time has passed. Indeed, my friends, the grass withers, the flower fades. Time flies. Health and vigor fade. Life is precious, but life is preciously short.

Why? Well, it says in verse seven, the grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Now, God’s breath or wind or spirit, the Hebrew term is ruach, is often depicted in scripture as bringing life, bringing health, bringing wellbeing. But God’s breath or wind, his ruach, is sometimes depicted in scripture, not as bringing life and mercy, but as bringing judgment and wrath to some. In this particular verse, the breath of God that is connected to human transience is a judgment breath, not a life or salvation breath. And there’s many places, numerous places in the scriptures where this reference to breath or wind is used that way. Just to give you a few samplings, let’s turn back to Psalm 103 and look at verses 15 through 18, Psalm 103, verses 15 through 18.

It says this, as for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone and its place knows it no more. Thank God it doesn’t stop there because it goes on to say this in verse 17, but the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children’s children. Or consider Jeremiah chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. Jeremiah chapter 4, verses 11 to 12. And there’s other passages we could turn to as well, but I just wanted to give you a couple samplings. Jeremiah 4, verses 11 and 12 says this, Jeremiah is speaking the judgment of the Lord. At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, a hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, a wind too full for this comes for me.

Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them. This is a judgment wind that God sends upon him. And here verse 10 represents the destructive wind again of God’s judgment. Well, dear friends, what are we to do with this information? In light of the transience of human life, how then should we live? Well, beloved, in light of how short and temporary life is, let us make the most of the time. Let us redeem the time because the days are evil and let us live lives that have eternity in view and are not focused on merely earthly things. Our Lord Jesus reminds us of this in one of his parables. Let’s turn to Luke 12 and let me just read verses 13 to 21. Luke chapter 12, 13 to 21 says this, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night, your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Or think of what the apostle James writes in James 4, 13 through 17, James chapter 4, verses 13 through 17. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin.

Brother, sister in Christ, what is the right thing for us to do? The right thing for us to do is to lay aside the weight of sin that so easily encumbers us and to run the race with faithfulness. But if you’re here this morning or you’re watching and you haven’t trusted Christ as your savior, what is the right thing for you to do? The right thing to do for you to do is to flee from the wrath to come, flee into the open arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that whoever trusts in him rests in him alone for salvation might not perish but have eternal life. Some might foolishly say, well, I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll deal with my soul later.

But again, the grass withers, the flower fades, life is uncertain, and you don’t know whether or not you will have a tomorrow. And that’s why the scriptures say today is the day of salvation. May it be the day of salvation for you, dear listener, as you turn to Christ. But friends, since our passage is found within a section of Isaiah that is intended to bring comfort to God’s people, we close our time in the Word with a glorious truth, and this is briefly my final point here based on verse 8. We find here the enduring quality of God’s Word, the enduring quality of God’s Word. After we are reminded of this sober truth, this uncomfortable truth that life is short and temporary and fading like the flower, like the grass and the fields, says in verse 8, the grass withers, the flower fades, but, oh thank God for this but.

But the Word of our God will stand forever. And as we learn from the passage that immediately follows, this is intended as a gospel word, a word to be proclaimed by the Zion of God, herald of good news on the high mountain. This is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, good news that in Christ we have a merciful, forgiving God who cleanses us from our sin by His blood, who renews us by His Spirit, and who seals us for the day of redemption. Dr. E.J. Young in his commentary says, to God’s Word there is a permanent character. Unlike the flesh of man which withers and fades, it stands forever. It rises up, stands, and endures in contrast to all flesh with its perishable nature. The Word of God is imperishable and endures forever.

The thought is similar to that of our Lord’s statement, the scripture cannot be broken. When God speaks, His Word expresses the truth, and that truth cannot be annulled or changed. And that, my friends, my dear friends, that is what gives us hope, that is what gives us comfort, that is what gives us a stable and secure foundation, that is what gives us stable peace and security in the midst of an unstable, fallen, fading world. So we close our time in the Word today. Let’s hear what the Apostle John has to say about this in 1 John 2, 15 through 17. Here’s the takeaway. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. And what is the will of God as revealed in John’s epistle? That you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and love the brotherhood. May we not love the world or the things of the world. May we love and trust, serve and follow Jesus our Lord. And may we love the brotherhood until he returns. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you, oh God, for your amazing grace and goodness to us. And we thank you that your word is an enduring word, a sure and certain word. It does not fade like human life fades. It does not pass away. And so we can rely upon it both now and throughout the remainder of the time of our pilgrimage that you grant to us.

So help us, Lord, to always ground our life, our decisions and all that we do and say and think in the enduring, unfading word of God. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, amen.

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.

January 18, 2026
Comfort for God’s People, Part 2

About this sermon

“A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah announces a new and greater exodus. As God once led Israel out of Egypt, he will come to deliver his people. God will lift up every valley and lay every mountain low, removing every obstacle. John the Baptist was that voice, preparing for Christ. Then “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” Christ came in humility at his first advent; at his return every eye will see him.

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Sermon transcript

same as the one from this morning, as we consider again, Comfort for God’s People, Part 2. We’re in Isaiah Chapter 40, verses 1 through 5. We focused this morning on the first two verses, and this evening we focus on verses 3 through 5. But in order to fill out the context, I’m going to read from Isaiah 40, verses 1 through 11. You’ll find this on page 712 in your Pew Bible. Dear friends, let’s hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. 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. A voice cries, in the wilderness 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. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says cry, and I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not.

Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. May God add his blessing once again to this reading of his holy word. Let’s pray for God’s blessing on the preaching of his word. Our Lord and God, Heavenly Father, we thank you that you speak to us in the Scriptures, for the Scriptures are your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible word. They are indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide to our way. We would ask, Lord, that once again by your Spirit, that Spirit who breathed out, inspired the Scriptures, that by that same Spirit you would illuminate us, help us to understand these truths from your word, and help us to see their relevancy and importance to our lives as followers of Jesus, and also to the life of your church.

Be with us now, and be exalted in the preaching of your word. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. Well, I encourage the children to listen this evening for three key words in my sermon, the words, Way, Obstacles, and Glory. Well, friends, if you are a driver, then you’ve probably found yourself in a situation where you’ve been driving down the road, everything’s going smoothly, you’re just minding your own business, and then all of a sudden some large object ends up right in front of you, smack dab in the middle of the road, and all of a sudden you need to react, and you need to quickly swerve out of the way so as to avoid hitting that obstacle or hindrance or impediment that is in the roadway.

Maybe it was a mattress that had fallen off of another vehicle, or maybe it was some litter that had fallen off of a garbage truck, maybe it was someone’s spare tire that they lost from their vehicle, it was a dead skunk on the road, you definitely don’t want to run over those or some other piece of roadkill and so forth. Of course, here in the Pittsburgh area, one of the biggest obstacles that you might have to avoid are the many crater-like sinkhole-sized potholes that dot the roadways of our fine city and its surroundings. But friends, whatever obstacle it turns out to be, such obstacles create stress and danger to those who are seeking to be safe on the roadways. Indeed, a smooth and safe journey requires a smooth road in order to attain to your destination, and obstacles and impediments that block the way are a cause of great stress.

And what is true when it comes to modern roadways is also true on the figurative highway that Yahweh our God would travel in returning to his people and once again blessing them by causing his gracious presence to dwell once again in their midst. You see, the sins of God’s people that had caused the Lord to send his people out of the promised land and to thrust them out into Babylonian exile, those sins served as obstacles, impediments, hindrances in the way of their return to God and in the way of the Lord’s return to dwelling graciously among them. And therefore, the Lord promises in this comforting passage here at the beginning of this second section of the prophet Isaiah, here the Lord promises that he would raise up a voice, a prophetic voice, to call the people to prepare the way of the Lord.

As it says in verse three, a voice cries, in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Just as people in the ancient Near East would prepare a royal highway for a visiting monarch by removing obstacles so that the monarch, the king, would be welcomed with honor and the procession of the king would be without hindrance. So let the soon to be liberated exiled people of God prepare the highway for the Lord’s return to Jerusalem and let them prepare the way of the Lord through repentance and faith. Now in terms of reminding us of the context and historical setting of our passage for this evening, as we learned this Lord’s Day morning in part one, Isaiah chapter 40 represents a significant new section here in the book of Isaiah.

This is a section of the book that in many ways stands in sharp contrast to the first 39 chapters. With some bright exceptions, the first half of Isaiah focused largely on the Lord’s judgment against his faithless people and also the Lord’s judgment against the idol worshiping Gentile nations that surrounded the people of Israel. This first half, Isaiah 1 to 39, this first half is made up largely of judgment oracles, occasionally interspersed and interrupted with some oracles of hope, pointing God’s people to the grace that would come with the coming of the promised Messiah and with the messianic age. But now starting here in chapter 40, the overall tone changes from a tone of judgment and rebuke to a tone of comfort, hope, and salvation. In this latter part of Isaiah from chapter 40 through the end of the book of the prophet Isaiah, in this latter part of the prophet Isaiah, the overall theme is a theme of hope.

The theme shifts from a stern oracles of judgment to hope-filled oracles of overflowing grace. Because in these latter chapters, the coming of the promised Messiah and the eschatological messianic age that his kingdom would bring about come into clearer view. How appropriate then for Yahweh, the God of Israel, our God, to raise up a prophetic voice to call his people to prepare the way for the gracious return of their divine King, Yahweh, their God. And so as we turn our attention to our passage for this evening and focus on verse 3, the first thing we notice here in our passage is the call to prepare the way, a call to prepare the way. It says, a voice cries. Again, notice the language. The voice doesn’t whisper. The voice doesn’t hint. The voice cries out, cries out with clarity, cries out in a manner in which all will hear.

A voice cries out, or as it could be translated, a voice of one crying. And what does this voice cry out? In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. We have this Hebrew parallelism here where the highway, or rather, the wilderness and the desert are speaking of the same thing. Regarding this section of chapter 40, as one commentator explains, the language of verses 3 and 4 has in view the ancient Near Eastern custom of sending representatives ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. The picture is that of preparing a processional highway for the Lord’s coming to Jerusalem. In Matthew 3, 1-8, John declares that repentance is necessary to prepare the way for Christ. And this call to repentance is from this voice.

Again, a voice cries, or a voice of one crying, as it could be translated. Now, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, as we ought to do, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, we see that the New Testament makes it clear that this prophecy was fulfilled in the ministry of that very significant figure in redemptive history, namely John the Baptist. And for example, let’s look at Luke’s interpretation of this passage, and the character mentioned here and predicted here in this passage. If we turn to Luke chapter 3, let me just read the first 18 verses. Luke 3, verses 1-18, we read the following words, says this. Let me just get there. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iteria and Trichonetus, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

And he went into the region around Jordan proclaiming a baptism of what? A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, and these should be familiar words, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall become straight and the rough places shall become a level ways and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire and this provokes a response from the crowds. The crowd asked him what then shall we do and he answered them whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none and whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him teacher what shall we do and he said stop collecting taxes no. He said to them collect no more than you are authorized to do. Soldiers also asked him and we what shall we do and he said to them do not extort money from anyone by threats by false accusation and be content with your wages and so forth.

So we see this is how the way for the coming of Jesus the Messiah was to be prepared. It was to be prepared by means of God’s professed people repenting and receiving baptism and this is what the Jews in Jesus’s day did when it came to gentile converts to Judaism. If you were a Gentile living in the first century and you wanted to fully convert and become a Jew not only would you be asked to be circumcised but you would also be baptized as a sign that now you will finally be identified as part of God’s people and so the people were to humble themselves and recognize that apart from God’s grace they were not worthy to be his people. It’s all by grace and grace alone and they were to confess their sins and trust in the coming promised Messiah and they were to bear fruits of repentance.

So getting back to our passage for today. Notice the language that Isaiah uses here in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Think about those terms wilderness and desert. How would that language resonate with a first century Jew or an ancient Jew who would read this language? Well this language in imagery would have reminded the ancient Jewish reader of the Exodus event because God in the Exodus brought his people out of slavery in Egypt and he brought them through the desert. He brought them through the wilderness and into the promised land and what this implies beloved is that with the coming of the Lord in the person of the promised Messiah this promised Messiah that the voice crying out in the wilderness would pave the way for and proclaim with the coming of the Lord in the person of the promised Messiah a new and greater Exodus would be accomplished.

In Old Testament times under the ministry of Moses a great Exodus a great deliverance indeed took God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt under the Yoke of Pharaoh and freed them and liberated them and brought them to Mount Sinai gave them his holy law and planted them in the promised land bringing them through the wilderness through the desert and that was a type a picture of salvation but Christ the greater Moses Christ he rescues us he provides us with a greater Exodus a greater rescue a greater deliverance for he came to save his people from their sins and therefore the command is to do what make straight in the desert a highway for the the look for our God prepare the way of Yahweh the Lord and again how do we do that well again as we compare scripture with scripture as we saw in that account recorded in Luke we learn that this is done through turning to the Lord in repentance and faith now a couple takeaways I want to make here a couple points of application first of all let’s consider this figure this austere figure of John the Baptist this great preacher of repentance this great prophet of God to whom the word of God came and he declared the word of God to his generation you know a lot could be said about John the Baptist this voice crying out in the wilderness but the thing to realize about John the Baptist beloved is that he was a tremendously important figure in redemptive history why well because he was the last of the old covenant prophets but he was unique in that he served to bridge the gap if you will between the old covenant and the new covenant administrations of the one covenant of grace and he fit he bridged that gap by calling the people to repentance and by heralding the coming of the promised Messiah Jesus of Nazareth our Lord our Savior our King as a bridge figure his ministry helps to illustrate the basic continuity between the old and new testaments many Christians today sadly under the influence of a of a wrong-headed approach to Bible interpretation known as dispensationalism many Bible-believing Christians today misinterpret the Old Testament they say well yeah the Old Testament it’s inspired it’s the word of God but that’s for the Jews the New Testament’s for us Christians are we to be New Testament Christians the ministry of John the Baptist reminds us that we are not merely to be New Testament Christians no beloved we are to be whole Bible covenantal Christians and yes there are important discontinuities between the Old Testament and the New Testament the Old Covenant was a covenant of shadows and types a covenant that was meant to prepare God’s people and ultimately to prepare the world for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the Old Covenant prepares for Christ points to Christ predicts Christ symbolizes and typifies Christ in its ordinances and worship and so forth the New Testament reveals Christ the New Covenant reveals Christ in his fullness so there are important discontinuities yet there is an underlying covenantal unity ultimately there is one covenant of grace and one way of salvation I’ve even heard some professing Christians say that that the old in the Old Testament God’s people were saved by keeping the law in the New Testament they’re saved by grace through faith no there’s always been one and only way one way of salvation ever since the fall of Adam and Eve there’s been one way and one way alone of salvation and that is the way of God’s grace alone through faith alone in the promised Messiah alone teaches that too it teaches salvation through faith in the coming Messiah now that Christ has come we are saved by trusting in the one whom the father has sent his son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so there is this basic continuity and this voice crying in the wilderness helps to bridge that gap between the testaments and bears testimony to the basic undergirding unity of God’s one covenant of grace at the same time we also learn here that Christ accomplished a deliverance and exodus far greater than that of Moses though in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord the Lord this is speaking of preparing the way of Jesus and yet here in the Hebrew the word being used is Yahweh Jesus is Yahweh he is God he is divine and he is coming to save his people from their sins Christ accomplished a deliverance and exodus far greater than that accomplished by Moses the mediator of the Old Covenant for Christ has delivered us not just from a typological slavery and and not just from physical slavery and earthly oppression a type of spiritual salvation but Christ has actually saved us believers from our sins by his obedient life his atoning death and his glorious resurrection from the dead so how are we to prepare the way again I’ve already stated it but I’ll state it one more time the way is prepared through personal repentance from sin and faith trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel and that leads me to my next we’ve learned that we are to prepare the way for the Lord to return to dwell with his people next in verse four we learn of obstacles removed obstacles removed it says every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low the uneven ground shall become level and the rough place is a plain what is this a picture of this is a picture of of your walking along this roadway and there are valleys and there are mountains and there are hills and all kinds of obstacles the Lord is promising here that the way is going to be smoothed out he’s going to prepare for his coming to us we are to prepare by repentance but he is going to make certain that his return to Jerusalem to his people is assured well verse three emphasizes our responsibility to prepare the way of the Lord this verse verse four is a promise given in figurative language which seems to point at least primarily to the Lord’s work in removing obstacles and hindrances to his return to dwell with his people you see friends from the standpoint of God’s sovereignty from the standpoint of his sovereign grace this verse assures us that God will let nothing get in the way of his return to his exiled people that God will bring us from a far country that he will gather his elect from the east from the west from the north and from the south and bring his children home and he will come and dwell with them and he will be their God and they shall be his people but again from the standpoint of human responsibility by the grace of God we are to remove such obstacles in our lives through repentance and faith this reminds me of a passage in Hebrews again I’m thinking of our our interns excellent sermon series through the book of Hebrews and if you go back to Hebrews or go ahead rather move ahead to Hebrews 12 verses one and two notice what the author of Hebrews writes here therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely oh what an accurate description that is of sin you give in to sin it starts to cling to you let us lay it aside the sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God may we brothers and sisters lay aside every weight and turn away from all the sin which clings so closely and let us again cling instead to Christ looking unto Jesus for Jesus our Lord he is the author and the finisher of our faith so we are to prepare the way of the Lord obstacles this is a promise as well as by implication and obligation but what is the ultimate goal what is the ultimate end to all of this if we go to verse five of our passage for this evening it says this and the glory of Yahweh the glory of the Lord shall be what revealed right now the glory of the Lord in this present age in its full consummate manifestation is hidden it’s veiled but there will be a time when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and it goes on to say and all flesh shall see it together and then to give assurance that this is a certainty it says for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this is God’s word this is God’s promise it is certain to happen what is this referring to now some would say well this is you know figurative language describing the return of the exiles to the promised land the post-exilic community and and in a sense that’s that’s an initial that can be viewed as an initial redemptive historical fulfillment of this passage the nations surrounding israel did did see God’s wonder the wondrous work of God in in bringing his people back to the promised land others would say well this this has its primary fulfillment in the coming of Christ and the spread of the gospel throughout the nations and certainly the glory of the Lord as is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ is being declared through the great commission to all the nations and there are folks our brothers and sisters in tongue and people in nation who have heard the glad tidings of great joy and who have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as they have embraced Christ as he’s offered in the gospel but again I point to the phrase all flesh shall see it together the ultimate fulfillment of this promise is the return of Christ this is an eschatological promise that will ultimately be fulfilled in Christ’s return for it says all flesh shall see it together when Jesus returns you know the first time our Lord came to this earth in his first advent he came in great secrecy only a few people knew about the coming of the Messiah the promised Messiah and the person of Jesus of Nazareth but when he returns at his second advent every eye shall see every eye shall see he will return on the clouds of glory for all flesh to see and all flesh shall see the glory of Yahweh the Lord Jesus our incarnate God as he returns in his glory the New Testament speaks often of the glory of Christ at his return again just to give you a couple samples from the New Testament as we close up our time in the word this evening let me have you turn to Matthew 25 and let me read verses 31 and 32 Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 and 32 where Jesus gives this picture of the final judgment he says when the Son of Man that’s Jesus that’s the Messiah when the Son of Man comes in his glory he’s speaking about his future glorious second advent when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations no one will be missing and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and so forth we read of our Lord’s glorious return the majesty and glory of the Lord returning in first that in passages like first Thessalonians 4 13 to 18 again let me read from this passage first Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 to 18 says this but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep in other words those brothers and sisters in Christ who have died that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command this is a public glorious event he will return with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God doesn’t sound like a secret rapture to me does it sound like that to you it sounds like this is a very noisy event that’s going to occur and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord therefore encourage one another with these words oh what comfort there is in knowing that Jesus our Lord is coming back for us soon at the end of this age and every day that goes by is a day closer to the when our Lord will return or finally one more passage and then we’ll close our time 1st Corinthians 15 verses 50 through 58 in this marvelous chapter of 1st Corinthians where the apostle Paul is defending the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead pointing especially to our Lord Jesus’s physical bodily resurrection from the dead he goes on to say this toward the end of the chapter beginning in verse 50 flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable behold I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so what is our ultimate hope what is our ultimate comfort it’s found here in verse 5 of our passage and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken are you ready for the glory of the Lord Jesus to be revealed should he return in our lifetime the only way we can be ready for that glory to return is to be in union with him to trust him to know him as our Savior from sin do you know Jesus as your Savior from sin Jesus the God man was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead on the third day so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have life eternal repent and trust in Christ today call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and the Bible says you shall be saved and be comforted in knowing that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed amen let’s pray our Lord and God Heavenly Father give us the grace to prepare your way prepare the way of the Lord we thank you Lord that you promise that your glory will be revealed and that you our God will come and dwell amongst us and you will be our God forever and we shall be your people forever be with us now help us to take these truths to heart and to live out their implications in our lives in Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said amen

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January 11, 2026
Comfort for God’s People, Part 1

About this sermon

After Isaiah’s long messages of judgment, ending with Hezekiah’s folly and the announcement of exile to Babylon, chapter 40 opens: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” God’s people need gospel comfort because their sin is real and serious. The word of comfort is divine, covenantal, and tender: “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” It is also full of hope, for her warfare has ended and God has pardoned her iniquity. She has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins, the full and sufficient answer to her guilt, fulfilled in Christ.

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Sermon transcript

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts, behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought there will be peace and security in my days. 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.

A voice cries in the wilderness, 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. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, cry, and I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. May God add his blessing to this reading of his holy word.

Let’s pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of the word. Well Heavenly Father, in your sovereign grace, we beseech you to grant gospel comfort to us today. We pray that by your spirit you would cause this word from your inerrant scriptures to find a lodging place in our souls and to bear much spiritual fruit, not only in our individual lives and our family lives, but also in your church. We pray that once again that you would set a guard over my lips. May I speak only that which is faithful to your word. We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. So my sermon this morning is Comfort for God’s People. This is part one. Part two is this evening, so you’ll have to come back this evening for the second part.

But the key words that I’d encourage you to listen for in my sermon today are the words comfort, divine, and gospel. Speaking of comfort, children often need to be comforted, especially very small, very young children. Those of you who have ever parented or are parenting young children or those of you who have had the opportunity to care for young children, you know this very well. Little children face a big and uncertain world, and so they need much in the way of comfort. And you know sometimes our children need to be comforted even when they’re not on their best behavior and even when they’re not demonstrating the best attitude. Let me give you a hypothetical example that probably resonates with real life. Let’s say that you have a young son. We’ll call him Little Simeon. Let’s say Little Simeon has recently been acting a bit defiant.

One day Simeon is playing with his favorite toys. He’s got his Lego set out on the living room ground, and he’s in his bare feet, of course. He’s playing with his Legos, and you’re in the kitchen fixing dinner up. So when it gets towards dinner time, you say to your son, Simeon, it’s time to clean up your Legos. Time to get ready for dinner. Go wash your hands, and we’re going to have dinner. But Simeon didn’t want to stop playing with his Legos. Instead of respectfully obeying you, he starts to pout. He starts to grumble. He starts to whimper. Now he starts cleaning up his Legos. He throws them angrily back into the storage box. Some of them land on the floor, of course, and not in the box. But he makes it very, very clear that while he’s complying with your directive, he’s not happy about it at all.

While on the outside, Simeon is obeying in the sense that he’s cleaning up his Legos. The defiant, rebellious attitude that he is displaying is thick enough to cut with a knife. And so in a stern voice, you say to him, Simeon, come here right now, so you know that this attitude needs to be confronted and nipped in the bud. So you direct him to come to you. But instead of obeying and coming to you, what does little Simeon do? He turns around and he runs the other way. However, in the process of running away from you rather than coming towards you, he steps on some Legos. Again, he’s in his bare feet. And if you’ve ever been in your bare feet and stepped on a Lego, you know that’s not a very pleasant experience, is it?

And then he trips, hitting his little head with a loud thud on the corner of your coffee table. Now what happens next? You know what happens next. The strength of little Simeon’s lungs exert themselves as he begins crying so loud that you wonder if the decibel level is going to shatter the windows in your home. Now think about it. Your son has been defiant. He has been disobedient. He has shown a disrespectful attitude toward you and toward your parental authority. But in that particular moment, when your defiant son is in pain and he turns around and he reaches out his little arms toward you for comfort and reassurance, what are you going to do in that particular moment? Do you say, ah, serves you right? Do you chide him for his disobedience? Or do you pick him up into your arms, embrace him, to comfort him, and to care for him?

My suspicion is that as a loving parent, your highest priority at that particular moment would be to comfort your son and to tend to any wounds that he may have received in that unfortunate incident. And if he hasn’t learned his lesson at that point from the consequences that he suffered from his actions, you can leave the chiding and correction for later on. Well, dear ones, in Isaiah’s time, the professed people of God on the whole were like little Simeon in my illustration. The people of God in Isaiah’s time were defiant. They were rebellious. They were disobedient to the Lord. They had hearts of covenant breaking and disloyalty. Through prophets like Isaiah, the Lord, Yahweh, had warned them repeatedly that if they did not repent of their sins and return to him in faith, they would suffer some very unpleasant consequences, namely, they would eventually be kicked out of the promised land and sent away into exile, into the pagan land of Babylon.

In fact, in the context of the immediately preceding chapter, chapter 39, Isaiah predicted to King Hezekiah, who had just received envoys from Babylon and shown them all that he owned and so forth, Isaiah predicted to King Hezekiah that the exile was exactly what was going to happen. If you go back and look at chapter 39, let me just again read these verses, verse five and following. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts, behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. That’s bad news enough, but then he goes on to say, nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon.

And then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you’ve spoken is good. Hezekiah’s a little bit short-sighted, he’s thinking short-term, not long-term, because it says, for he thought there will be peace and security in my days. Friends, chapter 40 in Isaiah represents a major news section of this prophetic book. In this chapter, the spirit of God, the spirit of inspiration, the spirit of prophecy leads Isaiah to envision a future time when God’s exiled people, His people who will have at that point experienced the effects of God’s word of judgment, now they are ready to hear a word of comfort from the Lord who promises to deliver them out of their exile. As Dr. Derek Kidner says of this new section of Isaiah as he comments on chapter 40, Dr. Kidner says, we wake in this chapter, so to speak, on the far side of the disaster, impatient for the end of captivity.

In chapters 40 through 48, liberation is in the air. There is the persistent promise of a new exodus with God at its head. There is the approach of a conqueror, eventually disclosed as Cyrus, to break Babylon open. There is also a new theme unfolding to reveal the glory of the call to be a servant and light to the nations. And of course, this new theme of the servant of the Lord comes to its ultimate fulfillment in that wonderful prophecy that we have of the promised Messiah Jesus as the suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 53. So as we turn our attention to our passage for this morning, and again, I’m going to focus especially simply on the first two verses. We first of all are confronted here, brothers and sisters, with our need for gospel comfort, our need for gospel comfort.

Isaiah writes, comfort, comfort my people says your God. Again, chapter 40, as I said, represents a great shift of theme and a radical change in tone and mood. The backdrop of these latter chapters of Isaiah is, of course, the first 39 chapters. You’re not going to appreciate what the second section, the second half of Isaiah has to say if you haven’t taken in the message of judgment and the holiness of God that’s revealed in the first 39 chapters. And as we have seen, brothers and sisters, in our sampling of these earlier chapters of Isaiah, what is the prominent overarching theme of chapters 1 to 39? Well, the overarching theme of those opening chapters was God’s judgment against his faithless people. Although as we’ve also seen, those judgment oracles are periodically interspersed and interrupted with more cheerful oracles revealing the hope and salvation of the Messianic age.

But the point here, beloved, is that the cheerful tone and the hope-filled themes of comfort and salvation for God’s people that we find throughout these latter chapters of Isaiah, these have as their dark backdrop the reality of God’s judgment and chastisement against the sin and rebellion of his professed people. But again, Isaiah, by the spirit of inspiration, sees into the future, sees into a time when the exile is about to end and when God says to his humbled exiled people, comfort, comfort, my people, says, your God. Or as the King James Version, I think, more accurately states it, more literally translates it, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. You see, this command is a command that is in the plural. It is a command that envisions not only Isaiah, the prophet, but prophets like him, that they that the prophets are to speak gospel comfort to the humbled people of God.

Now remember that at the beginning of his prophetic ministry, Isaiah had received a call from Yahweh, the Lord, to be a messenger of judgment. Remember the opening vision of Isaiah’s call in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah sees in visions of God the glory of the Lord and the train of his robe filling the temple and Isaiah is overwhelmed with his own sinfulness. He says, woe is me, I’m a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips and the Lord graciously forgives him with a coal from the altar directing that his lips be touched, his sin is atoned for. And then what does Isaiah do? He says, I’m going to go, Lord. The Lord says, whom shall I send? He says, let me go. But then we read this discouraging charge that he’s given.

If you go back to Isaiah chapter 6, let me just read verses 8 to 13 of Isaiah chapter 6. This call to Isaiah says, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here I am, send me. And he said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the hearts of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. Oh, I can just picture Isaiah, he’s eager, having experienced God’s gracious forgiveness, he’s eager to proclaim God’s word, but then God gives him a word of judgment, a word that’s going to have the effect of hardening the people, not softening them.

And so Isaiah says in verse 11 of chapter 6, then I said, how long, oh Lord? And he said, until cities lie waste without inhabitant and houses without people and the land is a desolate waste and the Lord removes people far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again like a tarabinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump. There’s a little glimmer of hope there. But nevertheless, up to this point in his prophetic ministry, Isaiah has primarily been a prophet of judgment. But now in our passage for today, it’s as if he receives another commission or a recommission in his office as prophet. For again, here the Lord in chapter 40 commissions Isaiah and other prophets like him to declare to God’s chastened, humbled people, not a message of further judgment and chastisement and chiding, but a message of comfort, a message of salvation, a message of restoration.

This command to declare comfort to God’s people is repeated. He doesn’t just say, comfort ye my people once, he says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people for emphasis. And there’s such repetition in scripture, it’s often for emphasis. And also, I believe it’s there to underscore the significance of this command and the richness of the comfort, the gospel comfort being offered to God’s chastened and humbled people. This opening word of comfort repeated twice for emphasis also serves to underscore the thematic trajectory for the remainder of Isaiah’s prophecy, as on the whole, the remainder of Isaiah is going to be filled with oracles of salvation rather than oracles of judgment. But to whom are these oracles addressed? Comfort comfort whom? My people. And who are the my people here? Well, verse three helps to spell that out a little more clearly.

Speak tenderly to whom? To Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the capital city of the southern kingdom where the temple of God was, where God’s special covenantal royal presence dwelt in the midst of his people. And Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem came to represent the elect people of God, the true people of God, the elect remnant. And he goes on to say, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her and so forth. Now a couple of takeaways, a couple of points of application from what we’ve considered thus far. First of all, as Dr. E.J. Young points out in his commentary, he says, as the subsequent chapters show, true comfort consists in setting forth the entire truth concerning the people’s tragic condition and in causing them to see God as their only hope. The people needed to be humbled by exile.

They needed to for the Lord’s judgment and chastisement to come upon them so that they would see their desperate need for God’s mercy. Dr. Young writes, when the heinousness of sin is faced, then the announcement of deliverance may be made. For the reception of these words of grace, the people have already been prepared through the earlier announcement of judgment to come. Dear ones, I would suggest to you that what was true in the ancient context in which Isaiah ministered is just as true today. If you ever had gospel conversations with unbelievers, and we were talking about this in Isaiah’s excellent evangelism class this morning, how sometimes you’re talking to unbelievers and you try to share about Jesus and they just don’t seem to get, you know, what the big deal is. I don’t need a savior.

I’m okay. I’m not perfect, but I’m okay, right? See, people will not see their need for gospel comfort, for the comforts offered by the gospel of Jesus Christ unless they first see themselves as sinners under the righteous and holy wrath of an infinitely holy God. This is a cloudy part of the country, especially this time of year, and if you want to go outside and see the magnificence of the stars in the bright night sky, then you’ll need to probably go somewhere else at this point in time, but friends, we see the brightness of the stars most clearly against the black backdrop of a clear night sky. And similarly, we see the brightness and the glory of gospel comfort only against the only against the backdrop of our own sin, our own wretchedness, and the fact that God is holy and we’re not, but are in fact under his judgment.

And that, friends, that’s why in our gospel conversations with unbelievers, it’s often best to focus first on explaining God’s holy character and explaining the demands of God’s holy law before explaining the comforts of the gospel. Now, it is a good impulse to want to go straight to Jesus when we’re sharing with unbelievers and take them to the cross and talk about the resurrection and what Jesus did in dying for our sins, but we need to lay the foundation. They need to understand why Jesus had to go to the cross to save sinners like you and like me and like them as well. For we sinners will not understand or appreciate our need for gospel comfort unless we first understand the fact that we are, in fact, sinners. We are not just merely slightly imperfect people.

We are rebels against our creator. That is our natural fallen condition in Adam. We are rebel sinners who cannot lift a finger to save ourselves and who therefore desperately need a sinless Savior. And that sinless Savior is none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And friends, we need to know that Jesus is our only hope and we need Jesus to be more than just a moral example, more than just a life coach, more than just a half Savior who helps us save ourselves. No, we need a Jesus who will be our rescuer from beginning to end. And it’s only as you understand that that these words of gospel comfort will resonate in your soul. Another takeaway from this passage is that I would suggest to you is that while ordained ministers of the gospel and evangelists today obviously don’t have the spirit of inspiration like the prophets and apostles of old did, one inference from this passage is that ministers of the word share this command to preach gospel comfort.

My main job as your pastor is not to tell you how to vote, not to tell you how to think about your job and so forth other than giving you biblical principles. My main job is to preach gospel comfort. That is the minister’s job and to declare glad tidings of great joy. So let us pray that our Lord would continue to raise up gifted men to go forth into his harvest field both in this country and throughout the world and proclaim gospel comfort to lost sinners. So we see friends gospel comfort here but we also see in this passage a divine word of comfort as it says, 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 double from the Lord’s hand, double for all her sins.

We see here a divine word. This message of comfort is a divine word, comfort, comfort my people says whom? Says Isaiah? No, says your God. You see these words of comfort, this is not ultimately Isaiah’s word, it is God’s word. Yes, Isaiah was the human author, the instrument through which God breathed out his scriptures and had it recorded and inscripturated here but nevertheless this is God’s word not Isaiah’s. The message of gospel comfort for humbled repentant sinners is of divine origin, it’s not a pipe dream, it’s not a mere wish. It is a revelation of God’s mercy in Christ to sinners like me and you. It is also a covenantal word as we see reflected here in the language being used. God says comfort, comfort what? My people says your God, that’s covenantal language and we see that kind of covenantal language throughout the scriptures and I just want to give you two brief samples, one from the Old Testament and the other from the New.

If you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 7 and look at verses, Deuteronomy 7 verses 6 through 8, we read these words as Moses is preaching to the children of Israel as they’re preparing to go in to conquer the promised land, he says this, for you, he’s addressing the Israelites, you are a people holy that is set apart to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations and so forth. He is the faithful covenant making covenant keeping God. So this word of comfort, it is a divine word and it is a covenantal word. God in his grace binds himself in covenant to his people in Christ and this is what we call the covenant of grace. And what is the ultimate end and goal and promise, the crowning promise of the covenant of grace? Well we find that revealed in the book of Revelation and many other places as well but if you go to Revelation 21 verse 3 we read these words. Speaking of the new heavens and the new earth it says this John writes, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. That’s the ultimate reunion beloved. So this is a divine word of comfort. It’s also a tender word as it says in verse 2, Speak tenderly or it could be translated kindly. Speak tenderly, speak kindly to Jerusalem. Dr. Young writes of this terminology he says, The comfort consists in the speaking of words that will fall upon the heart with pleasure, comfort and refreshment to encourage and share the heart like gentle rain falling upon the ground. So it is a divine word, a covenantal word, a tender word. It is also a hopeful or hope-filled word. Why? Well listen to the content of it. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.

Her iniquity and what gross iniquity that was and yet God has pardoned her. That she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. My friends, the message, this message of gospel comfort brings sure and certain hope to the soul because it is a word that promises peace, forgiveness and stability. The gospel message is a message of genuine comfort for sinners because it is God’s word of divine origin and not of mere human invention or wishful thinking. It is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes as the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1, 16 and 17. I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also to the Greek and so forth.

The point here, there’s nothing dear sinner, there’s nothing more comforting to the sinner than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that brings us to my final point. We see here in verse 2 the promises of gospel comfort as applied to the folks that Isaiah is addressing and that applies to us as well. The promises of gospel comfort. There’s basically a threefold promise here. First of all, promise number one is that warfare or hardship will be ended. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her. Don’t just whisper to her. Proclaim loudly. Cry to her. Declare. Speak it out. What are the preachers to cry? What are the prophets to cry to the people of God that her warfare is ended? The Jewish exiles in Babylon will have experienced the hardship of God’s stern chastisement for their sins, which Isaiah figuratively compares to the hardship of warfare.

But now Isaiah anticipates a time when the hardship of their exile would come to an end. This, of course, ultimately points to the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. For Christ is the victorious captain of our salvation. And this points also to the consummation of his kingdom that he will usher in at his return. But you know what? This deliverance from hardship is experienced. We experience a foretaste of that in this present age as we rest from our warfare against God, as we rest in Christ in true faith and repentance. I’m again reminded of those very familiar words in Matthew 11, 28 to 30. 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’m gentle and lowly and hard, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So the first promise is the ending of hardship. The second promise, oh, so precious to us who know ourselves to be sinners, is iniquity will be pardoned. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. The language here is the language of satisfaction, atonement, in other words. Here, Isaiah anticipates the suffering servant prophecy, especially, I would argue, verses four through six of that chapter. If you just skip ahead to Isaiah 53, let me read these familiar verses, Isaiah 53, six through eight. Surely, speaking of Christ, the suffering servant, surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for what?

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. Praise be to God. Again, this ultimately points to the atonement of Christ, who paid the penalty for the sins of God’s people on the cross of Calvary. So gospel comfort includes and encompasses the promise of warfare being ended, the promise of iniquity being pardoned, but also the promise of chastisement being ended. As well, for verse two ends with these words, that she, Jerusalem, God’s people, has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Now, it’s important not to misunderstand what’s being said here. This is not saying that the sufferings of God’s people in their Babylonian exile were somehow propitiatory, or they somehow atoned for their sins.

Instead, this language is pointing to the fact that God has assessed that this is enough chastisement. They’ve been humbled and chastised enough. As one commentator puts it, the term double appears to be hyperbole, used to impress on the people that the chastisement of the exile was really over. And dear Christian friends, praise God. One day, all of the trials, all of the tribulations, all of the chastisements and persecutions and sufferings that you and I experience in this present evil age, one day it will all be over. And we will enjoy the new creation forever in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. Dear listener, do you have that gospel comfort? If not, come to Jesus in faith and repentance as he’s offered to you in the gospel. Rest in him and you will be able to sing from your heart.

It is well with my soul. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, O God, for the glory and preciousness of the gospel, the good news. We pray, Lord, that we would receive these words of gospel comfort with hearts of faith and trust, that we would be bolstered, strengthened, and encouraged in our faith that we might have a closer walk with you and be faithful in our discipleship to Jesus our Lord. For it is in his name that we pray. And all of God’s people said, amen. As we

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January 11, 2026
Streams in the Desert

About this sermon

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.” Isaiah 35 promises new life in a barren land and tells the anxious, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come.” Then the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame leap, and the mute sing, signs Jesus fulfilled in his ministry. A highway called the Way of Holiness will run through the desert; the unclean will not pass over it, for only those cleansed by Christ and renewed by the Spirit walk it. The redeemed will return to Zion with singing.

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Sermon transcript

Well, brothers and sisters in Christ, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. My sermon text this evening, as we consider Isaiah, our sermon text is Isaiah chapter 35. It’s a shorter chapter in this work, known to us as Isaiah, it’s 10 verses long, begins on page 707. In your pew Bibles, I’ll read the chapter in its entirety. Let us hear God’s holy word, Isaiah chapter 35. The wilderness and dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Open the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there and it shall be called holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall be long to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it.

They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 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. O true and living God, Heavenly Father, we praise you for you spoke the word and by your breath you created the heavens and the earth by your sovereign word of power. And by your word you are also able to speak new life into our souls and you are able to cause new life to blossom forth even in the desert wilderness. We pray, Lord, that by your spirit you would bless the word not only as it has been read, but bless it as it is proclaimed this evening.

We pray that once again you would set a guard over my lips that I, your unworthy servant, may declare and speak forth only that which is faithful and true to your word. And we pray that your word would indeed find a lodging place in each and every one of our souls. We pray that this word would bring forth new life and great fruitfulness for your kingdom in our hearts and lives and in our church. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. My sermon this evening is Streams in the Desert. And there are five key words to listen for tonight, the words life, land, streams, holiness, and Zion. Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, because the Bible is the very word of God himself, it has the power to speak into the lives of God’s people facing all kinds of different circumstances and situations in life.

And because it is God’s word to his people, it is especially relevant to the covenant community of the church in its various conditions, in its various circumstances, whether we’re talking about the church existing in prosperity or the church in adversity, oppression, and persecution, the church under temptation, and so forth. And friends, this is particularly the case when it comes to this powerful passage of God’s word that we are considering on this Lord’s Day evening. For even though the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah the prophet to write these powerful words at a particular point in redemptive history, when God’s ancient covenant people were facing specific issues and specific dangers, nevertheless, this passage of scripture speaks into the situation of the church of Jesus Christ even today. And it speaks into the lives of us as individual believers.

So just to give you some examples, let’s consider the example of the individual. Let’s say that you’re a believer who is going through a long painful season of spiritual dryness. I imagine many of us have been there. The older writers used to call it a dark night of the soul, a season where even the diligent use of the means of grace, even devotional exercises like prayer and Bible reading and church attendance feel fruitless, feel dry, feel futile. And where God seems absent, uninvolved, unconcerned, perhaps even you feel that God has abandoned you. If this describes you, this passage is a reminder, a gracious reminder that our Lord promises in this Messianic age to dispel our spiritual dryness with streams in the desert. If your walk with Christ feels like a desert, brother, sister, living water are on their way.

But bringing this to the level of the church, to the persecuted church, this passage urges the suffering people of God to in essence be strong and courageous because the Lord promises ultimate vindication in the end. As we’re told in verses three and four, Isaiah writes, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God, he will come. To the lukewarm church in need of spiritual renewal, revitalization and perhaps even reformation, this passage points to our Lord’s power to create new life and to produce spiritual fruit even in a spiritual wasteland. For just as our sovereign Lord is able to cause the desert to blossom forth with new and fruitful life, so he is able to bring new life and new growth even to a spiritually barren church.

And to the worldly wayward church, tempted to give in to the pressures of an ungodly culture, this passage is a powerful reminder that the road to the heavenly Zion is the way of holiness, not the way of unbelieving, unrepentant compromise with an ungodly world. And so friends, here in this chapter of God’s word, we find hope for the hopeless and discouraged. Here we find comfort for the afflicted. Here we find strength for the weak. Here we find warning for the wicked. Here we find rejoicing for the redeemed. Now this passage comes to us in the context, in a larger context in Isaiah, that has been described as an oasis. In fact, Dr. Derek Kidner in his commentary on Isaiah says this about our chapter. He introduces it with these words. He says, the glory of this chapter is enhanced, if this is possible, by its setting as an oasis between the visionary wasteland of chapter 34, which we read earlier in the service, and the history of war, sickness, and folly in chapters 36 through 39.

He goes on to say that the theme is the coming Exodus, a greater than the first. This is a common theme in the prophet Isaiah, that a newer Exodus, a greater Exodus is coming on the way, a greater Exodus, a greater deliverance. It was one thing, God’s people enslaved under Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that physical slavery was awful enough, and the Lord rescued His people out from slavery in Egypt. But this passage points to a new and greater Exodus, namely the deliverance of God’s people from a greater bondage, the bondage of sin and the devil. And this deliverance is accomplished through the redeeming work of a promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So as we turn our attention to the details of our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the first theme that I would direct your attention to is found in the first four verses of this text.

We see the theme here of new life in a barren land. This marvelous chapter opens up with these words, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy in singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Now here Isaiah uses personification as he often does. Here he personifies nature itself in order to illustrate how the power and presence of God’s spirit can transform both nature and people, even when they are affected and afflicted by the curse of sin, as all of us have been. In verse one, we see reference made to a wilderness, to dry land, to a desert, illustrations borrowed from creation to picture spiritual barrenness.

And spiritual barrenness was a reality among the people of God in Isaiah’s day. Spiritual barrenness was the norm among God’s people in Isaiah’s time. The spiritual barrenness of God’s professed covenant people who were often guilty of idolatry, covenant breaking, even apostasy, all of which ultimately led to their exile into Babylon. Indeed, the covenant community before the Babylonian exile was on the whole a spiritual wasteland of faithlessness and covenant breaking. But God says it’s not going to stay that way. For what does the Lord say? The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. Oh yes, there would be exile, there would be judgment, but after the judgment, there would be gladness, there would be joy. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom not just a little bit. It shall blossom, we’re told, abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

The dead and barren wilderness is personified as bursting forth with new life. You see, friends, in the eschatological age of the promised Messiah, which is the age of the Spirit, there would come radical change, radical transformation. And brothers and sisters, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel is a radical gospel. It is a gospel that reveals a radical grace, a grace for even the worst of sinners. For we see the power of the gospel to transform those who are God-haters into God-lovers, those who are rejectors of Christ to those who are servants of Christ. Another prayer that mention was made in Isaiah’s prayer this evening of the Apostle Paul. Saul, the persecutor of the church, is transformed into Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. The gospel has power when the Spirit of God. And in verse two, one of the things I want you to notice here is notice even though the Lord paints a picture of a barren desert, yet in that barren desert, there will result not just new life, fruitfulness, but joy.

Notice, my friends, the theme of overflowing joy that this new divine life will bring to the people of God. It says, it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. God is not a cosmic killjoy. God is working for our joy, brothers and sisters. And then reference is made to these various locations in the promised land. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. What’s the significance of these locations? What would that have communicated to the original audience that Isaiah was preaching to? Well, Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon, brothers and sisters, these were abundantly fertile and fruitful parts of the promised land. And they’re being used here to illustrate God’s promise that the lifeless barren desert will burst forth with new life. And this ultimately, again, points us to Jesus Christ, our Savior, because Christ is the living water and Christ as the living water brings new life and new joy to dead, dry, barren souls.

And what will the result be? Well, it’s the end of verse two, we read, they shall see the glory of the Lord. But I thought we, no one could see the Lord and live, but with the eyes of faith and by the Spirit, we do indeed see the glory of Yahweh, our faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. We see the majesty of our God. We see that revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And though it refers to, though Paul is speaking to a different context, this passage here in Isaiah reminds me of what the apostle writes in 2 Corinthians 4, verses one through six. Let me just read those verses to you and you’re welcome to follow along in your Bibles if you wish. 2 Corinthians chapter four, verses one through six, where Paul talks about his ministry as an apostle.

And he says, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning and to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We see the glory of God revealed through the gospel in the face of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We see this only with the eyes of faith, but it is real, it is the living Lord Jesus Christ. And then verses three and four again, as I’ve already touched upon these verses, but here we see this exhortation in essence to be strong and courageous. Verse three, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. If you have weak hands and feeble knees, you cannot stand firm in the face of opposition, especially if that is true of those facing a battle. If you’re a soldier on the front lines of battle, you need to stand firm. Your hands need to be strong. Your knees need to be firm. But here, here the people of God in Isaiah’s time are living in fear.

The threat in Isaiah’s time that was causing the people to be fearful was of course the Assyrian military threat. The pagan nation of Assyria, the pagan empire of Assyria was cruel and they were expanding their territory and threatening Judah and Jerusalem at this time. So Isaiah is encouraging the people not to be fearful. Here the Lord through Isaiah is in effect telling the people not to let the Assyrian threat strike terror in their hearts nor to weaken their resolve. Instead, let them trust in Yahweh, their faithful God, and let them trust in his promises of deliverance and vindication. Likewise, brothers and sisters, though we do not face the Assyrians, we face the world, the flesh and the devil. So let us be strong and courageous again. The wording here reminds us of how Yahweh the Lord had instructed Joshua back in Joshua chapter one.

Let me just read a few of these verses, Joshua one verses six and seven. These should be very familiar to you, but we need to hear them again. As the Lord has called Joshua to lead the people into the promised land, he says, only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And then skipping down to verse 18, whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous. The Lord says again and again, be strong and courageous. The Lord through Isaiah here says this to you and to me, fear not, be strong, behold your God will come with vengeance and recompense. He will come and save you. Now there are many takeaways, many applications that we could glean from this passage of God’s word, but let me just offer a few applications. This passage reminds us, brothers and sisters, that God and God alone is the giver of life. He’s the creator of our natural life.

He created the heavens and the earth. He’s the one who gives fruitful fields, who causes streams in the desert to bring forth new life, new vegetation. But he is also the giver of new life in Christ. Let us pray for him to enliven us as believers and let us pray for him to enliven the church that we might be faithful in our worship and service to our God. We also are reminded in this passage that God of holy vengeance against the wicked who dare to persecute his people. Let us not fret because of evildoers as the psalmist urges us not to. Instead, let us be patient and trust in the Lord’s ultimate vindication for we have God’s word of promise that he will ultimately vindicate us. And so again, we see this picture here, this beautiful, powerful picture of new life bursting forth in a barren land.

But next, as we move on in our passage, we see next the theme of healing streams of the Messianic age. We find here the healing streams of the Messianic age being predicted here. And as we move through this passage, one of the things we notice is that it speaks of healing that ought to remind you of the earthly ministry. It says in verse five, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water in the haunt of jackals. Where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

As I read this passage, I’m reminded of times, perhaps you’ve experienced this. Let’s say you’re on a beach somewhere, maybe you’re on vacation, and it’s really hot outside and you step off your towel to go towards the water. And the sand is burning, your feet are burning up as you’re making your way towards the water. So you skip along quickly because your feet are hot. But here, this burning sand will become a pool again, life in a lifeless place. These verses ultimately point to the consummation of Christ’s kingdom when Jesus returns in glory and brings us into his heavenly Zion. And of course, the miracles and healings that our Lord Jesus performed during his earthly ministry and which these verses anticipate. Those miracles were signs of the in-breaking of God’s kingdom, his reign of grace and salvation that has drawn near in the person and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse six mentions streams in the desert. After mentioning these miracles of healing, the eyes of the blind being opened, the ears of the deaf being unstopped, the lame man leaping like a deer, the tongue of the mute Speaking and singing for joy again, our Lord Jesus performed these miracles in his earthly ministry as signs of the kingdom of God and signs that he was indeed the promised Messiah. We see at the end of verse six, for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. This also reminds us of Ezekiel’s vision of water flowing from the temple. Do you remember that vision recorded in Ezekiel chapter 47? I’m not going to read that section in its entirety, but the temple is depicted and there’s a trickle of water coming out from underneath the temple.

And then that trickle turns into a water that’s deep enough to walk in and then it’s up to the knees, then it’s up to the waist. And then downstream, it’s so much water that you can swim in it. In Ezekiel 47 verse 12, just read that one, verse says this, Ezekiel 47 verse 12 in this marvelous vision. It says of this living water, this water coming forth from the temple, from the presence of God. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. The sanctuary represented God’s throne, God’s presence and reign amongst his people.

And from that, that reign of God in Christ flows the hope of the gospel to all the nations. And ultimately, this is fulfilled in Christ, our savior, for Jesus himself promises living water. If you turn to John chapter seven, let me just read verses 37 to 39. It says this, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And then John explains what that means. 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 had not yet been glorified. And then verse seven of our passage, again, the burning sand shall become a pool, the thirsty ground springs of water, in the haunt of jackals, the desolate places where only animals associated with desolate places would tend to congregate.

In the haunt of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. What a powerful picture of new life, of renewed life and fruitfulness. When these healing streams come in the new covenant messianic age, it will not be a mere mirage, instead it will be reality. For the burning sand shall become not a mirage, but a pool, an actual pool. There shall be substance, there shall be reality. Oh dear sinner, have you come to Christ, the living water, to find refreshment for your soul? Is your soul thirsty? Thirsty for forgiveness, thirsty for salvation, Jesus Christ by his spirit is the living water and he promises that if you turn to him, resting in him and his finished work, he will refresh your soul, he will give you grace and strengthen you. And that all brings us to our final point as we consider the closing passage of this chapter, verses eight through 10.

We see in this section of chapter 35, the highway of holiness, which is the road to the highway of holiness, the road to Zion. Verse eight, and a highway shall be there. Now I think we are meant to understand this in contrast to the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel. There was no highway for the people of God coming out of Egypt as they made their way towards the promise. Certainly the Lord guided them with a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. The Lord was present with them and yet they were wandering in a trackless waste. But now under the new covenant in this eschatological age, the Lord himself will make the highway clear, the way will be plain, the way home. A highway shall be there. And what is this highway?

It says it shall be called the way of holiness, the way of holiness. This is talking about the way home. Brothers and sisters, we are not at home here. We are residents here in this present age. We may reside in western Pennsylvania, but our ultimate home is the heavenly Zion, the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. We are pilgrims making our journey home, the way home to God in the heavenly Zion from our exile in this wilderness of sin is described here by Isaiah as the way of holiness. Now such holiness, of course, requires both cleansing, in other words, justification, as well as consecration or sanctification. And friends, in our spiritual and saving union with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are given both cleansing and consecration, both justification and sanctification as a gracious gift of God.

But you know, this way of holiness is not ultimately a way that we travel in by our own works, our own merits, our own steam, our own power, no. The way of holiness is not an impersonal road that we have to travel on our own steam, no. The way of holiness is Jesus himself. For Jesus said, I am what? I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me. Jesus himself is the narrow way that leads to life. And just reflecting on this, as we keep this reference to the highway of holiness in mind, let me just refer you to a couple passages of scripture which ought to be very familiar to you. Let me just read these again, Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus, as he’s getting towards the end of his sermon on the mount, he says this, Matthew 7, beginning at verse 13, he says, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few.

He’s not saying, oh, try really, really hard to find this narrow way. No, he’s saying the way is indeed hard. It’s hard on our pride because it requires repentance. It requires trusting in a crucified Messiah for salvation. But this narrow way is Christ himself. Jesus makes that clear in passages like John chapter 14, verse 6, where the Lord Jesus says this, and you’re familiar with this passage, Jesus said to him in response to Thomas’s question, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And the apostles got the message because they proclaimed him as the only way to the Father. As we read in Acts chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, as Peter and John are before the Sanhedrin, it says this, Acts chapter 4, as they’re proclaiming Jesus to the religious authorities in Jerusalem, This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone and there is salvation in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Again my friends, Christ himself is the living way, the way of holiness, the living road to the living Father in heaven. For in him we have holiness. In him we have the holiness of justification, legal holiness, declared righteous in his sight and in him we have sanctification. As we trust in him and him alone as our Savior, as we walk by faith, by trust in him, we are also on the narrow road to life eternal, on the road traveled by the ransomed of the Lord to the heavenly Zion as we read in verse 10, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return. None other, the ransomed of the Lord, those whom the Lord by grace has redeemed through the blood of Christ, the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion.

This is the heavenly Zion. They’ll come with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, they shall attain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. But notice also, going back to verse 8, it says the unclean shall not pass over it. Who are these unclean? Well, he’s using here the imagery of ceremonial uncleanness. Here the symbolism of ceremonial uncleanness points to spiritual and moral defilement. Again only by the redeeming work of Christ and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit can we sinners be cleansed and enabled to walk on the way of holiness. And then verse 9 is also very comforting, for it says no lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. If you walked in that part of the world, in the wilderness there, you would face many dangers, predators, there would be snakes and scorpions and not only that, there would be lions, there would be ravenous beasts, there would be many dangerous toils and snares.

But as we sing in that wonderful hymn, through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. His grace has led me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. You see, unlike the treacherous wilderness that the children of Israel journeyed through in the first Exodus on their way to the promised land, a journey in which most of them perished in unbelief, this way of holiness, this second Exodus traveled by the redeemed is made safe by God from all predators who would hurt and devour the redeemed. This imagery, friends, points to the comforting truth of our Lord’s gracious preservation of his people. In other words, this points us ultimately to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The saints persevere in faith because the Lord graciously preserves them. In Christ, we who are redeemed are secure and safe from ultimate harm, for he preserves us in faith even until the end.

This is not a promise that in this present age we will be freed from harm, but this is speaking of ultimate harm. The Lord preserves us from ultimate harm. He does tell us in the word that it is through many tribulations that we shall enter the kingdom of God, but nevertheless, he preserves us in those tribulations. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. And so, as it says in verse 10, the ransomed of the Lord shall return, they and they alone shall return from a far country to their heavenly homeland, the Zion that is above. As we’re reminded in that passage in Hebrews chapter 12, we’ve been going through this. Isaiah has been preaching in this section of Hebrews recently, and consider Hebrews 12, 22 to 24. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Not only do we by grace through faith, through Christ, the way of holiness, not only do we arrive safely in the end at the heavenly Zion, but it says everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Listen, you have only begun to taste the joy that is ahead. There is more joy ahead of us in the new heavens and the new earth, and we could even begin to fathom everlasting joy. This is the ultimate result of our redemption in Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is what we have to look forward to in the glorious new heavens and new earth that Jesus will usher in at his return. And even now in this present age between our Lord’s first and second advance, we get a foretaste of this joy. As we commune with our triune God, as we bask in the joy of our precious Savior through prayer and worship, we experience even in this present age the beginnings of what the Apostle Peter describes as joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

One of my favorite passages of scripture, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 through 9. Let me just read these verses as we wrap up our time in the Word. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And catch this, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and what? Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Through the indwelling spirit in whom we are sealed for the day of redemption, we believers have a foretaste of that inexpressible eschatological joy, a joy that bubbles forth as streams in the desert, as rivers of living water flowing forth from hearts redeemed by the grace of the Lord. Dear listener, once again, have you had your spiritual thirst quenched by drinking of Christ, the water of life? Have you tasted of that joy which is inexpressible and filled with glory? What a wonderful thing to know that the Lord is working for his ultimate glory, yes, but our ultimate joy is his ultimate glory.

So dear friends in Christ, as we continue our pilgrim journey of faith to the heavenly Zion in this new year, 2026, may our sovereign Lord see fit to provide us as a church and as individual believers with streams of living water in the barren wilderness of this fallen sin-cursed world. May we experience streams in the desert in the year of our Lord 2026, streams which produce in us spiritual life, new spiritual life, vitality, and abundant fruitfulness for the cause of God’s kingdom and all of God’s people said, amen, let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we are often weighed down by the trials and tribulations, by the concerns and worries of this present age. We would ask the Lord that you would sustain us in our pilgrim journey. Sustain us Lord with that joy which is inexpressible and filled with glory.

And Lord as we make our way through this wilderness of this fallen sin-cursed world, grant us streams of living water, streams in the desert, and may those streams refresh our souls and burst forth with new life in our hearts and lives and in the church. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time tonight by rising and we’ll sing as our closing hymn 528, Rejoice Ye Pure in Heart, 528.

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.

January 4, 2026
A Righteous King, a Shelter from the Storm

About this sermon

After oracles against those who sought refuge in Egypt, Isaiah 32 promises a king who will reign in righteousness and princes who will rule in justice, each like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm. In his kingdom those who see will keep their eyes open, and no one will call the fool noble. That moral clarity comes from God’s law, not from pluralism, relativism, feelings, or cultural trends, for his law alone defines right and wrong. The King is Christ, and people find true wisdom and discernment only in him and his inerrant word.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. This morning we consider Isaiah 32 verses 1 through 8. You’ll find that on page 704 in your Pew Bibles. To kind of fill out the context a little bit, I’m going to back it up a little bit and start in chapter 31 verse 6 and read through chapter 32 verse 8. And just to remind you of the context, there has been much in the way of judgment oracles that have been pronounced against Isaiah’s faithless contemporaries who were seeking refuge in Egypt in view of the oncoming Assyrian threat instead of seeking refuge in the Lord. So let us hear God’s Holy Word. I’m going to begin reading again in chapter 31 verse 6. Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel, for in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of man shall devour him, and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor. His rocks shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic, declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.

The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable, for the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. As for the scoundrel, his devices are evil. He plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands. 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. Our Lord and Father in heaven, as we come to your word today, we recognize that it contains weighty truths, truths that we must take to heart, truths that we must not take lightly.

We would ask, O Lord, that by the power of your Spirit, we would indeed be open to that which the Spirit is speaking to us in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. We ask, Heavenly Father, that your Spirit would cause your word to have a noble and positive impact upon each and every one of us, upon our hearts and souls and lives. And so, Lord, we ask that you would cause our hearts to be good soil, that the seed of your word would indeed take deep root and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives to sanctification and honor. We would ask, O Lord, also that you would cause your word to bring unbelievers to faith, if there be any here who or any listening who do not know you, that your Spirit would cause them to embrace and to hear the word in a saving way.

And we would ask, Lord, that you would build us all up in our most holy faith. We ask that you would grant grace to me, your unworthy servant, to declare your word with clarity and power, for the glory of your name and the good of your people. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. If you picked up a sermon outline, and there are some outlines in the foyer there, you’ll notice there are three key words to be listening for in my sermon this morning, the words rule, impact, and clarity. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the saying goes, now obviously this well-known saying is not absolutely true. After all, God himself is absolutely all-powerful in his omnipotent being, and yet God is also morally incorruptible, for he is perfectly holy, he is perfectly righteous, he is perfectly just.

But if we take our sight from heaven and bring it down to earth and to mankind’s fallen situation, when it comes to fallen humanity, both secular and biblical history demonstrate that in this fallen sin-cursed world, moral and ethical corruption is very common, very common, especially in high places, and injustice is often the norm. With rare exceptions, power tends to have a corrupting influence upon the fallen sinful human heart, and so that being the case, the more powerful a man becomes, the more tempted he is to give in to pride, and the more likely his character and conduct will become compromised, even corrupted. A biblical example that illustrates this sad reality is the story of good King Uzziah, who is also known in second kings as King Ahaziah. Uzziah and Ahaziah, those are the same dude, the same man.

And Uzziah was one of the good kings of Judah. He did much good for the kingdom, the theocratic kingdom, and he started off in a very positive trajectory, a very positive direction. Let’s consider briefly his story from Second Chronicles chapter 26. Second Chronicles chapter 26, read the first five verses and then a couple other verses. Second Chronicles chapter 26, we read this. And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah, and the king slept after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jekaliah of Jerusalem. And notice the chronicler’s assessment of King Uzziah, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. And then what follows in the following section of chapter 26 is a listing of Uzziah’s many accomplishments, many exploits, and the growth of his military power. But then, though it starts off in such a good trajectory, skip down to verse 16, notice what it says next. But when he, when Uzziah was strong, he grew proud to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Now if you know the law of God, you know that God’s law makes it very, very clear, very plain that only the priests have the right under the old covenant to offer incense in the temple.

Even the king did not have the right to presume to go before the Lord in his temple and to offer incense. Yet Uzziah in his pride, in his blasphemous pride, presumed to do so. But then it goes on to say in verse 17, but Azariah the priest went in after him with 80 priests of the Lord who were men of valor. They were indeed men of valor and courage because they were putting their lives on the line to uphold God’s law, to confront the king, was potentially fatal. And they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord, from the Lord God.

Then Uzziah was angry. Instead of repenting of his wickedness, he gets angry at the messengers who were confronting him with the truth. Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and behold, he was leprous in his forehead and they rushed him out quickly and he himself hurried to go out because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper lived in a separate house for he was excluded from the house of the Lord and Jotham his son was over the king’s household governing the people of the land.

They say pride goes before a fall and Uzziah’s circumstances certainly illustrate that powerfully. For while King Uzziah, excuse me, was one of the good kings who started off well and showed such great potential, such great promise of being a godly king, he apparently allowed his great accomplishments and his growing military power to corrupt his character and due to his blasphemous pride the Lord judged him with the punishment of lifelong leprosy and exclusion from the temple of the Lord which basically implies that the Lord excommunicated him permanently. He was not allowed ever again to go into the temple of the Lord to join in the worship of the Lord. Again my friends in this fallen world, corruption in high places is so very common and so very tempting and injustice is so often the norm. But that brings us to our passage for this Lord’s Day morning.

In our passage for this Lord’s Day morning the Holy Spirit through his servant the prophet Isaiah assures God’s people that in the coming messianic kingdom power will not corrupt the messianic king nor his associates as it did in the case of Uzziah for example and injustice will not be the norm as it sadly was so often the norm in Isaiah’s day. Instead in the kingdom of the promised messiah, the messiah being God’s anointed Davidic king in the kingdom of the promised messiah, righteousness and justice will prevail, hearts and lives will be graciously transformed, minds will be enlightened to receive spiritual and saving truth and moral clarity will prevail over fallen corrupted worldly values. Dear ones our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is an oracle of salvation and hope, an oracle of salvation and hope that follows a series of judgment oracles.

Judgment oracles against God’s faithless people, a people who had been looking to Egypt instead of looking to the Lord to deliver them from the military threats coming from the Assyrian empire. While God’s righteous judgment would indeed come upon Isaiah’s faithless contemporaries, judgment would not be God’s final word. For friends this hope-filled passage anticipates indeed predicts the peaceful and righteous reign of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one who is the promised messiah, the one who is the king who will reign in righteousness and without corruption. And that brings us to our passage for today as we first of all consider the just rule of Messiah’s righteous kingdom. Let us consider the just rule of Messiah’s righteous kingdom. Isaiah begins this oracle of salvation with the word behold and children what does that word mean?

What does the word behold mean? If you’re in a class at school for example and you’re kind of daydreaming and your teacher notices that you’re maybe doodling instead of doing your work and you’re daydreaming your teacher might say pay attention, behold pay attention that’s what the word behold means. This is God saying hey this is important listen up, behold a king will reign in righteousness. What an unusual king that would be who reigns in righteousness. Were kings in Isaiah’s day characterized by righteousness and justice certainly not the king of Assyria and sadly often not even the kings of Judah. But as we approach this passage the first question that we need to answer as we approach this passage is this, is this passage or is this not a messianic prophecy at least a direct messianic prophecy that is a prediction of the promised messiah and his kingdom reign.

You might say well that seems pretty obvious it’s referring to a righteous king however there has not been unanimous agreement among Bible scholars on how to answer this question and that is the case even among Bible believing commentators. For example I do not often disagree with the great Puritan Bible commentator Matthew Henry but Henry seems to have viewed this passage as a prophecy of the righteous rule characterized by good King Hezekiah the great reforming king of Judah. But even Henry agrees that if this is fulfilled in King Hezekiah we need to remember that Hezekiah was a Davidic king and as a Davidic king he was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ the promised messiah and therefore whether or not we view this passage as strictly and directly a messianic prophecy its ultimate fulfillment is indeed found in the righteous rule of Jesus the messianic king.

But again I differ with Henry on this particular point though he has much that is good to say about this passage. I find myself in agreement with those biblical scholars who see this passage as indeed a direct prediction of the messianic age and therefore in that sense it is indeed a messianic prophecy. And this particular messianic prophecy doesn’t focus so much on the person of the promised messiah as it focuses on his righteous and just rule. It says in verse one a king will reign in righteousness and that would have been astounding news to Isaiah’s contemporaries. A king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in justice. And here in this passage Isaiah actually provides us with a sharp contrast to the unrighteousness and the injustice of the rulers of Isaiah’s time. If we go back to chapter one and look at verses 21 to 23 Isaiah chapter one verses 21 to 23 we see the typical rulers described in that passage the rulers that characterized Isaiah’s time.

It says in chapter one verses 21 to 23 speaking of the city of Jerusalem the capital city of the southern kingdom how the faithful city has become a whore she who was full of justice notice she who was full of justice righteousness lodged in here but now murderers your silver has become dross your best wine mixed with water your princes are rebels and companions of thieves everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts they do not bring justice to the fatherless and the widow’s cause does not come to them notice the emphasis on righteousness and justice there was at the time of this prophecy no righteousness there was unrighteousness there was injustice but now Isaiah changes his tune as he looks into the future as the holy spirit gives him a vision of the future and he says behold a king will reign not like the kings described in chapter one but a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in justice now what does it mean when it says a king will reign in righteousness let me ask you this friends what is righteousness and who gets to define what righteousness is well friends we need to understand especially in this age of religious pluralism and moral relativism we need to understand beloved that it is god’s moral law and the moral law alone that defines righteousness it is god’s moral law alone as summarized in the 10 commandments for example that defines good and evil that distinguishes right and wrong not mere human wisdom nor human tradition nor personal feelings nor personal experiences nor even cultural trends inform a true and accurate definition of righteousness but god’s law and god’s law alone reveals the divine unchanging standard of righteousness and this messianic king will rule by that standard of righteousness not by human ideas or ideals this language here about the right this righteous king who reigns in or reigns according to or for the purpose of righteousness as it could be translated supports the view that this is indeed a messianic prophecy because we have this same picture of the messianic king brought out more clearly and more directly messianic prophecies here in isaiah itself if you go back to isaiah chapter nine verses six and seven and this was read during the memory work time by one of our members isaiah nine verses six and seven says this and this is clearly speaking of jesus the promised messiah for to us a child is born to us a son is given and the what the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace and notice especially verse seven of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end on the throne of david and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with what with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the lord of hosts will do this he will reign with what justice and righteousness again as verse one says behold a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in justice we also see this reflected in the clear messianic prophecy found in chapter 11 in isaiah chapter 11 it says this there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the lord he shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear but with what with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth and shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins so this king is a righteous king the messianic king but not only is the king himself righteous his associates the princes that are mentioned here are also righteous and to whom are these princes who is isaiah referring to when he speaks of these princes he is speaking of rulers and leaders who are associated with the promised messiah and how does that get fulfilled today in this current new covenant age well friends in this new covenant age we could view this as being fulfilled in the church’s leadership such as the original apostles and today in the faithful ministers and elders of the church i’m reminded of what the apostle peter says about such leaders in first peter chapter five verses one to four first peter chapter five verses one through four where peter the apostle i also identifies himself as a fellow elder he certainly held the office of apostle but he was also an elder to be regarded as an elder and so he says in chapter five verses one to four so i exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed shepherd the flock of god that is among you exercising oversight not under compulsion but willingly as god would have you not for shameful gain but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock and when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another my friends christ our savior rules the passage from revelation that i read to you earlier declares christ to be the king of kings and the lord of lords christ’s government over his kingdom is even at present it is a righteous and just government and therefore that being the case we who are citizens of god’s kingdom we who are believers in christ we should pursue righteous living according to the word in our personal lives and we as the church should strive in order that our church would be ordered according to the rule of god’s word but not only do we have a description of this righteous messianic king we also have a description of the effects of his just rule and those include the messiah the blessings of messiah’s gracious kingdom in verse 2 notice the imagery here imagery that would have resonated powerfully with isaiah’s contemporaries he says each will be like a hiding place from the wind like streams of water in a dry place like the shade of a great rock in a weary land when you read this imagery what kind of what is this imagery depicting it is imagery that the language and imagery here depicts and points to the blessings of protection shelter refuge and refreshment and friends as sinners before a holy god we need a refuge from the wrath of god we need protection we need salvation we need shelter and we need refreshment i know i criticized matthew henner earlier but now i’m going to quote what he says in applying this passage to christ he says this when the greatest evils befall us not only the wind but the tempest when the storms of guilt and wrath beset us and beat upon us they drive us to christ and in him we are not only safe but satisfied that we are so in him we find rivers of water for those that hunger and thirst after righteousness all the refreshment and comfort that a needy soul can desire and the shadow not of a tree which sun or rain may beat may beat through but of a rock of a great rock which reaches a great way for the shelter of the traveler some of you may be thinking about that hymn that jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm that is how he’s presented here in this passage of god’s word dear listener have you found your saving refuge in the lord jesus christ as your savior from sin from death and from hell have you come under the shelter his shelter as the rock of your salvation like the shade of a great rock in a weary land jesus graciously welcomes sinners to find refuge in him he stretched out his arms upon the hardwood of the cross and bore our sin in his own body in our place in our stead and he rose from the dead and he promises all who seek refuge saving refuge in him forgiveness and salvation and life eternal so come to him today rest in him but not only do we find shelter saving shelter and refuge in christ we notice next that this passage speaks of the transformational impact of messiah’s righteous kingdom reign the transformational impact of messiah’s righteous kingdom that impact is described first of all in verse three where under this righteous king and his righteous kingdom it says then the eyes of those who see will not be closed and the ears of those who hear will give attention what is this speaking of this is speaking of spiritual perception and illumination many of isaiah’s contemporaries including the leadership had ignored the word of god coming to them through isaiah the lord in judgment had shut their eyes and closed their ears in fact this passage is to is a contrast to chapter six verses nine and ten if you turn back to isaiah chapter six and look at verses nine and ten it says this and this is the passage that records isaiah’s call to be a prophet it says this in verses nine and ten and i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us i’m starting in verse eight then i said here i am send me and he said go and say to this people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed god judges his unrepentant people by giving them over to their sin and confirming them in their spiritual deafness and their spiritual blindness and god would actually use isaiah as his instrument of judgment isaiah would proclaim repentance but that proclamation would fall on deaf ears but now that’s going to change in the messianic age because now as verse three of our passage tells us the eyes of those who see will not be closed and the ears of those who hear will give attention my friends christ’s kingdom brings spiritual discernment enlightenment and understanding the apostle paul reflects this reality this truth in the language that he uses in first corinthians 2 verses 14 through 16 where he contrasts the natural man with the spiritual man with the one who is born again by the spirit he says the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of god for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned the spiritual person judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one for who has understood the mind of the lord so as to instruct him but we have the mind of christ if you are in christ if christ is your savior you have the mind of christ and god enables you to understand to spiritually understand the truths of god’s word but not only will the new covenant era of the messiah’s reign bring spiritual perception and illumination it would also bring clarity of understanding and perception as we’re told in verse four the heart of the hasty will understand and know and the tongue of the stammerers and will hasten to speak distinctly and the term stammerers there seems to be referring to those who stammer because they’re drunk you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who’s like really drunk they stammer it’s hard they don’t speak distinctly but in this messianic age the fool will become wise the ignorant will come to understand and know and they will speak truth openly clearly distinctly beloved scripture tells us in first corinthians 1 verses 30 and 31 and because of him you are in christ jesus who became to us wisdom from god righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the lord you see friends true wisdom from god is found in the lord jesus christ and in his word especially in the gospel message as the apostle paul reminds the colossian christians in colossians 2 verse 3 in christ we are told are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge you want to be truly wise know christ you want true wisdom you want true understanding ground your life ground your worldview in the word of god and the gospel of jesus christ revealed therein dear ones let us not look to the world’s so-called wisdom or to what is popular in current culture for true wisdom and understanding most of what is popular in our culture today is folly deep deep folly instead let us look to the lord jesus christ and to his inerrant word for only in christ and only in his word can we find genuine wisdom and understanding and only as we ground our lives and our thinking upon god’s infallible word can we attain to true discernment and moral clarity and again i’m reminded of the words of our savior in recorded at the end of his famous sermon on the mountain matthew chapter 7 matthew 7 verses 24 through 27 jesus says this everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew and beat on that house but it did not fall why because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it beloved we are given spiritual perception and understanding in christ and in his word let us ground our lives in it but we are also given moral clarity and this brings me to our my final point we notice in this text the moral clarity of messiah’s righteous kingdom the moral clarity of messiah’s righteous kingdom it says this in verse 5 the fool will no more be called noble nor the scoundrel said to be honorable you see friends in the messianic kingdom the lord will right all wrongs and true godly values will prevail the messianic kingdom turns foolish worldly values on their heads folly will no longer be exalted as it so often is in this fallen world but instead folly will be abased and true nobility will be exalted as jesus in speaking of his kingdom says in the kingdom of god the first shall be last the last shall be first in the kingdom of god those who exalt themselves will what they’ll be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted but then he goes on in verse 6 to describe the biblical fool he says for the fool speaks folly and his heart is busy with iniquity to practice ungodliness to utter error concerning the lord to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied and to deprive the thirsty of drink again here we have a description of the biblical fool he is one who is characterized by active heart iniquity by the practice of ungodliness by the promotion of error all the while neglecting and oppressing the godly poor and needy but not only does he describe a fool in verse 7 he describes the scoundrel it says in verse 7 as for the scoundrel his devices are evil he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words even when the plea of the needy is right this description of the scoundrel seems to go beyond the description of a mere fool for the scoundrel is not only foolish he is one who is actively devising wicked schemes especially in seeking to ruin the lives of the godly poor to do so with lying words perhaps character assassination and slander which by the way is one of the reasons why slander is such a serious sin in the eyes of god and it’s so common today especially online on social media it’s one of the one and i don’t mean to get on my soapbox too much but one of the things that disheartens me is when i get onto online or when i read comment sections from articles online where christians will get on those who name the name of christ and they’ll behave like scoundrels behind the keyboard they’ll denigrate those with whom they disagree and let me tell you brother sister if you’re tempted to do that if you’re tempted to turn into a scoundrel when you’re interacting with strangers online and yet claiming the name of christ remember you represent christ are you giving an honorable witness for christ in the way you conduct yourself online you say well it’s my private business it’s what i do behind closed doors what you do behind closed doors who you are in those moments is who you really are if you’re a scoundrel online you’re a scoundrel in your heart and you need to repent let us be good witnesses for christ and by the way it’s not our job to destroy and to denigrate those strangers and others that we interact with whether in person or online it’s our job to win them for christ don’t be focused on winning arguments be focused on winning souls for jesus christ that’s the noble thing to do and this passage closes with a with a description a brief description of the noble in contrast to the fool in the scoundrel verse eight but he who is noble plans noble things and on noble things he stands here the noble man is set in sharp contrast to the fool in the scoundrel you see in christ’s kingdom his reign of grace and salvation the fool and the scoundrel who remain impenitent will be judged but noble things will be established and the true citizens of messiah’s kingdom will take their stand on them brothers sisters in christ let us take our stand on the noble truths of god’s word let us not be scoundrels let us not be fools let us be those who pursue godly wisdom gospel wisdom and let us by the grace of god seek to be witnesses faithful witnesses for christ to a lost and dying world all god’s people said amen let’s pray our lord and father in heaven we thank you and praise you god that christ our savior even now reigns that the messianic kingdom has been inaugurated in christ and that one day when he returns it will be consummated that day when true righteousness will prevail in its consummate form and so lord we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells and we pray come lord jesus come quickly give us the grace lord to hasten your kingdom by living faithfully by pursuing our vocations and callings with faithfulness and the fear of the lord and enable us lord to shine the light of christ in the in these spheres and realms that you have called us into we pray these things in jesus name and all of god’s people said amen we’ve been talking about the messiah’s kingdom the person of the messiah himself is god in the flesh and we sing of him in our closing hymn number 268 of the father’s love begotten 268 let’s rise and sing together

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November 30, 2025
Returning and Rest

About this sermon

God’s word comforts the broken-hearted, but it also rebukes. Judah has despised his word and told the prophets, “Speak to us smooth things.” Their iniquity will be like a breach in a high wall that suddenly collapses, smashed like a potter’s vessel. The Lord offers the way of salvation: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.” But they would not, and fled on horses instead. Yet the Lord waits to be gracious to them, and blessed are all who wait for him.

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Sermon transcript

Well, dear friends, the title of my sermon this morning is Returning and Rest, and for the benefit of the children who find it hard to follow along, listening, there’s four key words to listen to. Word, smooth, destruction, and rest. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if you’ve been walking with the Lord for any length of time, you know that God’s Word is a great source of comfort and consolation. It’s a great source of comfort and consolation in many and varied life circumstances, but especially a source of comfort and consolation during times when we believers feel broken and overwhelmed with the burden of our own remaining in dwelling sin. Friends, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is a potent home to the repentant, brokenhearted sinner who trusts Christ as Savior. So God’s Word indeed comforts, God’s Word consoles, God’s Word indeed brings inner healing to the brokenhearted believer.

But friends, God’s Word also confers, God’s Word also rebukes, and God’s Word at times even imprisons hardened sinners who willfully persist unrepentant in their sin, as well as confronting and disturbing seriously backslidden believers who’ve wandered far from the fold of Christ, that they might be disturbed out of their spiritual stupor and brought back from the fold of Christ the Savior. It’s important to us, brothers and sisters, that both the comforting and the confrontational aspects of Scripture are equally valid functions of the Word of God. God’s Word is a great source of comfort and consolation, isn’t it? Don’t we? Indeed, it is our natural fall-and-bent to want to hear God speak to us only smooth things. Unless God, the Holy Spirit, changes our hearts and makes us willing to hear the hard truths of Scripture, we will naturally, in our fallen condition, we will want to dictate to God what we would have Him speak to us.

And of course, we want Him only to positively affirm us in our ultimate autonomy. We want Him to affirm us in our self-chosen identity. We want Him to affirm us in our favorite sins. We want Him to call our vice virtues and the virtues that we want to avoid, we want Him to call vices. You see, apart from the grace of Christ, we are naturally prone to having what the Scriptures describe as itching ears. It’s interesting, the Apostle Paul, writing to his son in the faith, Pastor Timothy, mentions these itching ears. Let’s just turn over to 2 Timothy, chapter 4, and let me read the first four verses of that passage. 1 Timothy, I’m sorry, 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

And then note verse 3 especially, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and will wander off into myths. It’s almost as if Paul is talking about our own time, isn’t it? And of course we think of itching ears and folks accumulating to themselves teachers that will tell them the things that they want to hear. We think of, for example, the ongoing and regrettable popularity of the so-called prosperity gospel in its various manifestations. It’s basically the gospel, the so-called gospel that says God wants you healthy, He wants you wealthy, He wants you comfortable, so much for what Jesus said in His call to discipleship where He said, if anyone would come after me, let him do what?

Let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. But again, it’s not just those who are out there who are prone to having itching ears. We all have itching ears. We all want to hear smooth things. And of course there’s nothing new under the sun. For this desire for smooth things was precisely the problem with Isaiah’s contemporaries whom he confronts in this judgment passage. And so as we approach our text from God’s Word this morning, it’s important to understand and be reminded of the historical setting. You see, brothers and sisters, at the time that Isaiah wrote this passage, the biggest international threat to the covenant nation of Judah at the time was the looming military expansion of the brutal pagan Assyrian empire. And it was a very real threat. If you read anything about the Assyrians and how they treated people whom they conquered, it was a fearful thing to face the Assyrian threat.

But instead of trusting in their divine king as God through the prophets was calling them to do, God through the prophets like Isaiah was calling the people not to trust in human alliances but to trust in their divine king. But instead of trusting in their divine king, their covenant lord and redeemer, instead of trusting Yahweh their God to take care of this threat and to protect his people, the leaders of Jerusalem had put their trust in a scheme that they had concocted to make a military alliance with Egypt. Now I want you to think, brothers and sisters, about the irony of that. Instead of trusting in the God who had graciously delivered them from the oppression and slavery that they had suffered under the heavy yoke of idol-worshipping Egypt, they turn away from the Lord, their deliverer, they turn away from him in unbelief, and they instead turn for help to their historic enslavers, their historic oppressors, namely the Egyptians.

Indeed, even as Isaiah wrote this passage, it seems that envoys were on their way to Egypt. That is what the language of verse 4 seems to draw out. It says, for though his officials are at Zohan and his envoys reach Hainis, everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them that brings neither help nor profit. But in this passage, beloved, the Lord warns that this misplaced trust in Egypt’s help would prove to be a disaster, tragically misplaced. In terms of when precisely this prophecy was fulfilled, as one commentator puts it, this prophecy was not, of course, fulfilled in 701, but rather in 586 when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and perhaps even more in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. And of course, as I’ll point out in a little bit, all of these historic judgments that God had predicted through the prophets, all of these historical judgments ultimately point to the final judgment of the Lord against the unrepentant wicked.

So friends, let’s turn our attention to our text for today, and let’s focus first of all on verses 8 through 12, as we consider God’s word despised and smooth things desired. It says in verse 8, and now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. Now, God called his prophets like Isaiah to preach and to proclaim the word of the Lord to their contemporaries, but that message that was proclaimed orally needed to be preserved and that’s what the Lord is instructing Isaiah to do here. Isaiah is commanded to write this down as a witness for the benefit of future generations and brothers and sisters, we, who lived many generations after this passage was written, we benefit from the spiritual truths that we learn in this portion of God’s word.

But that raises the question, what precisely is Isaiah’s message? What precisely is Isaiah to write? Now, some think that this command to write it refers to the statement in verse 7, which describes Egypt as Rahab who sits still, or as some have suggested it could be translated Rahab the do-nothing. In other words, the point is that Egypt is going to be worthless. It’s going to be a worthless ally. Egypt, called Rahab here, is worthless. It’s a do-nothing. However, friends, it seems more likely to me that in the context of this passage, Isaiah is to record, he’s instructed by the Lord to record in writing the entirety of the judgment oracles of the Lord against his rebellious people who relied on their alliance with Egypt. And that is recorded as a witness against that generation and recorded for our instruction and our benefit.

And then it goes on to say this in verse 9. In verse 9, the Lord describes the people that Isaiah is preaching to and renouncing here. For they are what? A rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord. They were children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord. They were hardened against the word of God. And yet these were, as we learned in previous weeks, Isaiah’s primarily has in view the religious leaders in Jerusalem who should have known better. And yet they refuse the word of the Lord. We have here a description in verses 9 through 11 of the rebellious people who trusted in their alliance to Egypt. And their resistance to, their refusal to hear the instruction of the Lord The instruction of the Lord is brought out by Isaiah in verse 10 where he says he puts words in their mouths to express their attitudes.

Who say to the seers, a seer is a prophet, a prophet is a seer, different words to describe the same office. Who say to the seers, do not see, and to the prophets, do not prophesy to us what is right. Don’t keep telling us that we should not trust in Egypt, that we should trust in the Lord instead. Stop telling us that. Stop telling us about the Holy One of Israel. Instead, what do they say? Speak to us smooth things. Tell us what we want to hear. Affirm our delusions, our illusions. Verse 11, leave the way, turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel. They were getting sick of hearing Isaiah proclaim the holiness of God. It’s interesting. Isaiah, if you study the book of Isaiah carefully, one of the major themes that is woven throughout this marvelous portion of Scripture is the theme of the holiness of God.

And one of Isaiah’s distinctive titles for God is the title, The Holy One of Israel. That is a title for God that is used some 25 times throughout the book of Isaiah. But the rebellious leaders in Jerusalem who trusted in their military scheming rather than in the Lord, they were sick and tired of hearing about the Holy One of Israel. Indeed, that should not surprise us because unholy people do not wish to be reminded of the holiness of God. And then verse 12 lays down the indictment against the people. Verse 12, therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel. They say, stop telling us about the Holy One of Israel, but Isaiah doesn’t stop. He goes on to say, the Holy One of Israel says this, because you do what? Despise this word. Not only did they not hear the word of the Lord, not only were they unwilling to be corrected and instructed by the divine revelation coming through the prophet Isaiah and like-minded prophets, they refused to hear because they despised the word.

It wasn’t what they wanted to hear, so they refused to receive it. Here we again have Yahweh’s indictment against this people that they had despised this word. Which word is he talking about? In other words, God’s word coming to them through his true prophets like the prophet Isaiah. And in this present context, especially his word to them, warning them not to enter into an alliance with Egypt. Now there’s much that we can learn from passages like this in God’s word, but let me lay before you a few important lessons here. You know, friends, in passages like this one, we have examples of Yahweh’s almost shocking bluntness in confronting his faithless people. You know, the scriptures I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, the scriptures are incredibly comforting, but they are also disturbing and they jostle us, they disturb us, they overturn the rocks in our hearts to expose the skeletons that are hiding under it.

In judgment passages like this one, we often see the Lord being very blunt and direct with his people, and that’s kind of shocking to us. You see, the Lord doesn’t tend to communicate to his unfaithful people through diplomatically worded hints, nor is he particularly polite. In fact, sometimes his words to his faithless people sting. Sometimes they are heavy with rebuke, sometimes even heavy with sarcasm. Of course, our Lord Jesus himself, Jesus who spoke so gently and kindly to broken sinners and to outcasts, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, the same Lord Jesus who was kind to the humble and the broken, that same Lord Jesus spoke with strong prophetic harshness toward those who were his enemies, those who led the people astray and opposed him and his proclamation of the Kingdom of God. But again, it’s important to understand, beloved, that when God speaks this way in Scripture, it’s not because he’s lost his cool.

It’s not because God is having a temper tantrum, or he is speaking in an out of control rage. No, instead, it is because of his love. God speaks sharply at times, harshly at times, because of his love and zeal to maintain holiness, because of his love and zeal for his own glory, and also because of his love for the sinners whom he rebukes and his earnest desire for them to be brought to repentance. And I think we need to take instruction from that, beloved, as we might, if you’re reading through the prophets, especially in the Old Testament, and you find these passages where God is really like laying in to his people, and we might say, well, that’s kind of intense what’s going on here. We need to realize God speaks this way because he cares.

He cares. He loves. He’s concerned, ultimately, for his glory. He’s concerned to maintain holiness, but he’s also concerned that his wayward people be brought back to the fold. Friends, let’s be honest. There are times in all of our lives when we need to be corrected. But let’s also be honest that even necessary correction, even at those times when we need to receive necessary correction, it can be difficult medicine to swallow such correction, especially if that correction exposes something embarrassing about our attitudes or our actions or behaviors or what have you. But, dear listener, a true friend will love you enough to correct you when you need it. A true friend is not going to be nitpicky, hypercritical, eager to jump down your throat with criticisms. No. But a true friend will be willing to confront you.

I’ve heard it described as carefront. Will be willing to confront you in love if you are going astray. There’s a tendency today to imagine that, well, the way that you love other people is by always affirming them, always affirming their decisions, always affirming their lifestyles and so forth. And that is simply not the case. It is not a loving thing, for example, to affirm someone in a delusion that will lead them to hell. That’s the opposite of love. Love confronts with the truth. A true friend will love you enough to correct you when you need it. Biblical correction, when it is wisely and lovingly administered, may initially hurt, sometimes hurt bad. But in the end, it brings healing and wholeness to those who are willing to receive it. And I think that is how we are to read passages like this in God’s Word.

God is confronting His people. Yes, He is pronouncing judgment against the unrepentant wicked, but He’s also pronouncing judgment that those who hear, those who by the Spirit are unable to hear, might be brought back into a right relationship with the Lord. I may have shared this illustration before, but there was a time when I was in college. I think it was the summer after my junior year of college. A friend of mine from our college, Christian Fellowship, and another gentleman, we all pitched in to rent an apartment together so that we could live in the college town. And I was working in the cafeteria, and I was taking a class that summer. But there was a particular incident where I was about to do something really stupid and naive. And I kind of knew in my heart of hearts that it was a stupid and naive thing that I was contemplating doing, because I kind of kept it to myself.

But my friend, his name was Bill, a fellow believer. Bill found out what I was thinking of doing, and man, he laid into me. He was like, Jeff, what are you doing? What are you thinking? In fact, he laid into me so hard that it brought tears to my eyes. I was so embarrassed, and I realized, yeah, that’s pretty stupid. Why was I thinking of doing that? But the thing that also brought me to tears, I know my friend Bill. I knew that he was laying into me not because he wanted to tear me down, not because he wanted to crush me or embarrass me or humiliate me. I could see it in his eyes. He was confronting me because he really cared. He really cared. Do you have a friend like that in your life?

If not, you need to pray that God would bring a friend into your life who will speak into your life what you need to hear and not always what you want to hear. God speaks the truth. God is a God of truth. And he speaks truth into our lives, and he speaks truth to his people in the Scriptures. Friends, may God grant us the grace to be willing to receive hard words when necessary with a humble and teachable spirit. And of course, this is not to be misunderstood. This does not give the corrector a license to be hypercritical or nitpicky or obnoxious. Being gentle and kind in our communication with each other should still be the norm. That should be the rule. We are commanded as part of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But sometimes hard or harsh words need to be spoken. And when that is the case, they should only be used sparingly with great care and prayer and wisdom and only in extreme circumstances. But getting back to our passage for today, these were extreme circumstances that the Lord is confronting. And that brings me to my next point as we move on in our passage to verses 12-14. We see in this section of Isaiah 30, sudden and utter destruction declared. We see here Isaiah declaring sudden and utter destruction. It says in verse 12, Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall and so forth. Now Isaiah is a master illustrator.

He was a master at using illustrations that especially his contemporaries would understand and be able to picture in their minds. But what does he say to them? He says they trust in oppression and perverseness. In what way? Well, this is probably, this trust in oppression and perverseness is likely a reference to their reliance upon Egypt because Egypt itself was known historically for its oppression and its deceptiveness. But he says relying upon Egypt, he compares it to what? Look at verse 13. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall bulging out and about to collapse whose breaking comes suddenly in an instance. As one commentator puts it, Isaiah compares Egyptian protection with a wall under pressure collapsible at any moment. And then he goes on and uses another illustration, a shattered potter’s vessel, verse 14, and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth or to dip up water out of the cistern.

In other words, it’ll be so shattered that it’s useless for even the most menial of tasks. And again, as this commentator puts it, Egypt’s promises of aid will be smashed to bits. Appearances can be deceiving. My friends, in the scriptures, God is revealed to be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Our God is amazingly patient and forbearing. Even towards the rebellious, hard-hearted. But nevertheless, the scriptures also make it clear that the Lord will not tolerate forever those who persist unrepentant in their sin. As it says in Proverbs 29, verse 1, He who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck will suddenly be broken beyond healing. You get rebukes and correction over and over and over again, but you continue to harden your heart. There will come a time when you will be broken, when the judgment will come, and there will be no road to recovery.

And of course, it’s important to remember that all of these historical judgments that we find predicted in the prophets like the destruction here predicted by Isaiah, all of these historical judgments point to the ultimate destruction of the unrepentant wicked that will take place on the final day of judgment. Again, I’d like us to look at another passage from the Pauline letters in 2 Thessalonians 1, 5 through 10, where he speaks about this ultimate destruction. It says here, and here, 2 Thessalonians, let me just get there, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 5 through 10. And here, Paul is writing to believers who are facing persecution, experiencing persecution, and he says this, This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. Beloved, let us be warned against presuming upon the grace of God. God is patient, but again, he calls us to repent and believe.

Let us be warned against presuming upon his grace, just as we are to take his gospel promises with utmost seriousness, let us also take his warnings with utmost seriousness. And let us also avoid sidestepping the hard parts of scripture. They’re there for a reason, they’re there for our instruction, and they’re ultimately there for our edification. May the hard truths of scripture drive us ever closer to wholehearted dependence upon Christ as our only hope of salvation. And that brings us to our final point, as we consider verses 15 through 18. Speaking of the way of salvation, we learn, finally, of the way of returning and rest, the way of returning and rest. It says this in verse 15, For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. There’s that title again, the Holy One of Israel.

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. In returning and rest, you shall be saved. Some translations say in repentance and rest, you shall be saved. Returning is repenting. In returning and rest, you shall be saved. In quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you were unwilling. And you said, No, we will flee upon horses, therefore you shall flee away. And we will ride upon swift steeds, therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five, you shall flee till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. In returning and rest, you shall be saved, Isaiah says. Now, in the original historical context, this would mean that instead of the anxious and frantic activity of sealing an illicit alliance with the Egyptians, let them return from Egypt and let them rest.

Let them put their trust in Yahweh, their God, to deliver them. In other words, let them repent of their trust in Egypt and trust in the Lord instead to deliver them. However, sadly, as we see in verse 15, they were unwilling to heed this call to repentance and trust. Verse 16 points out the fact that their reliance upon Egypt will commit them to an unavoidable military engagement against the Assyrians, which was exactly what they were hoping to avoid. And then in verse 17, Isaiah reminds them that they will experience the covenantal curse spoken of in Deuteronomy 32, verse 30. It says in verse 17, A thousand shall flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five you shall flee till you are left basically all alone, like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

Let’s turn to Deuteronomy 32 and look at verse 30. This is where Isaiah derives the language from. Deuteronomy 32, verse 30. Actually, let me start reading at verse 28. This is the song of Moses, which is a witness against the people in their rebellion. For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. If they were wise, they would understand this. They would discern their latter end. How could one have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight unless their rock had sold them and the Lord had given them up? If they had trusted the Lord and obeyed him, then they would be able to cause their enemies to flee. But now their enemies will cause them to flee. This is the covenantal curse that they would experience.

But even in the midst of this judgment oracle, as we close our time in the Word this morning in verse 18, there’s a glimmer of hope. Look at verse 18. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him. At that point in redemptive history, it was time for judgment. God was going to display his justice, and so he will wait at this point in time to be gracious, as it says at the beginning of verse 18. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you. But what does that imply? That implies that he will once again show his grace and mercy to his people. The Lord’s grace is delayed because he must first manifest his justice in punishing the unrepentant among his professed people.

However, this verse does not imply that all hope is gone. Indeed, it implies a promise that one day, one day, one day God will again be gracious to his people. Even in the midst of pronouncing his just judgment, we are not to forget that he remains merciful and gracious. Beloved, returning and rest describe the heart of the gospel call, for the gospel call includes the call not only to faith, but also to repentance. We see this in the preaching of Jesus himself, as Mark, for example, introduces the preaching ministry of Jesus in Mark 1, verses 14 and 15. We read these words. It says, Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel, the good news of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

And what is the response to be? Repent and believe in the gospel. In other words, return and rest. While faith and repentance can and indeed must be distinguished, they can never be separated, for they are like two sides of the same coin. No one who truly repents neglects faith. No one who truly has faith will neglect to repent. The two go together. And friends, this biblical language describing faith as rest, it should be familiar to you who know your shorter catechisms, because it is reflected in the Bible-based answer to shorter catechism number 86. The question being, what is faith in Jesus Christ? The Bible-based answer is faith in Jesus Christ is what? A saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. This language of receiving and resting upon Christ is also based upon passages, for example, like John chapter 1, 12 and 13, where in the opening prologue of John’s gospel it says, But to all who did receive him, receive Christ, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

To believe in the name of Christ, to trust him as your Savior, is to receive him, and to receive him is to rest upon him. As the Lord Jesus says, and I know I love to quote this passage from Matthew 11, verses 28 and following, 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. Dear listener, have you personally received and rested upon Jesus Christ alone as he is offered to you in the gospel? In repentance and rest, you shall be saved. But friends, as we return and rest in the Lord by repentance and trust in Christ alone for our salvation from sin, let us remember that it is in this way, this way of returning and rest that we reach our ultimate eternal Sabbath rest in the new heavens and the new earth.

And that is where we are headed. We’ve considered this judgment oracle. We’ve heard some disturbing truths from God’s Word. Let me close my sermon today by reminding us of our eschatological hope in the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation 21, 1 through 4. This is what returning and rest will ultimately bring us to. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. That is our eternal eschatological Sabbath rest. Let us return and rest as we make our journey towards the new heavens and the new earth. Let us pray. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that through the gospel you offer us sinners rest, that you offer to remove from us the burden and weight of sin. We thank you, Lord, that you love us enough to confront us in our sin and to call us to turn to you. May we rest upon you both now and throughout our lives as we make our journey toward our eternal rest. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

Let’s close our worship service today by rising and we’ll sing number 479, Jesus, I am resting, resting 479.

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.

October 12, 2025
Hearts Far from God

About this sermon

Isaiah 29 announces distress for Ariel, Jerusalem, whose feasts run their round while its people are spiritually blind and stupefied. God’s word is a sealed book to them, closed to the learned as well as the unlearned, because they have hardened their hearts. “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,” and their fear of God is a commandment taught by men. Jesus applied these words to the Pharisees. God judges empty, external religion by giving it over to folly; he wants hearts that truly fear him.

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Sermon transcript

Will I please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word, and we continue our study and consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and we are in Isaiah chapter 29 today. Our focus will be on verses 9 through 16, especially verses 9 through 14, but to kind of fill out the context a little bit, I’m going to begin reading at verse 1, and I’ll read through verse 16 of Isaiah chapter 29. And friends, you will find that beginning on page 700 in your pew bibles. This is God’s Word, hear it with reverence and awe. Isaiah 29 beginning at verse 1. Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, at year to year let the feasts run their round, yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.

And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers, and I will raise siege works against you. And you will be brought low, for the earth, from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down. Your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper. But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind, and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. And the multitude of the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her, and her stronghold, and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied. Or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint with his thirst not quenched. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. Astonish yourselves, and be astonished. Blind yourselves, and be blind. Be drunk, but not with wine. Stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers. And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, read this, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, read this, he says, I cannot read.

And the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder, and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, who sees us, who knows us, you turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay that the thing made should save its maker? He did not make me, or the thing formed, say of him who formed it, he has no understanding. Amen. 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, your word is compared in scripture to seed. Lord, we would ask that you would cause the soil of our hearts to be good soil, that we might receive the seed of your word in such a way that it bears fruit in our lives, that it indeed takes deep root and bears much spiritual fruit in our lives unto salvation and sanctification. And we would ask Lord and Father in heaven that you would drive far from us all distracting thoughts and help us to be diligent and attentive to your word this morning. And we pray that you would set a guard over my lips once again, grant me the grace to speak forth your word with clarity and power for the edification of your people, for the salvation of the lost, and for the glory of the name of Jesus our Lord.

For it is in his name that we pray and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is Hearts Far from God and Children. There’s three key words that you’re going to be listening for in my sermon today, the words stupor, heart, and savior. Just a little challenge for the children. I’d be interested to know how many times I say those three words, so be listening for those words. Well, dear ones, back in the day I went to a seminary located on the north shore of Boston. Some of you I know are familiar with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. One time during my seminary days back in the 90s I was contacted by an old friend from college named Don. And Don told me that he was going to be in the Boston area on a business trip and asked if I had some time and would like to get together and kind of catch up on things.

And of course I was thrilled to hear from him and so I scheduled a time to go meet him at his hotel. Now, it’s important to understand Don, this friend of mine, is a fellow Christian, a fellow believer. In fact, we had gotten acquainted through our mutual involvement together with the college’s Christian Fellowship Group. We had also briefly been involved together in a Christian musical band. But in any case, I met up with Don at the hotel where he and one of his business colleagues were staying for their business trip. And so I parked, I go up to his room, I knock on the door and Don is in the room. His business partner was out and so I went into his room for a few minutes. We were chatting and we were about to head out and all of a sudden his business colleague showed up at the room.

And he showed up in a deeply drunken state. You see, he had returned to the room from a bar that he had been at. Now, after a brief introduction, I was trying to be polite so I introduced myself and was hoping that we could get out of the room and leave this gentleman to sleep off his stupor. But having introduced myself before we were able to leave the room, this gentleman proceeded without our invitation or encouragement to describe to us in great exquisite detail the exotic dancer that he had witnessed at this bar where he had drunk himself into an inebriated stupor. Now, of course, my friend and I, we’re Christians and we were not interested at all in hearing what this fellow had to say. And so we were trying to find out, we’re trying to think of a way, how do we extricate ourselves from this rather unedifying conversation.

But again, this fellow just kept groaning on and on about with his description of this dancer that he had seen. And so Don and I kind of look at each other. We’re kind of thinking, signaling to each other, how do we extricate ourselves from this conversation? And in an awkward attempt to change the subject, I started to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with this drunken man. I don’t know how wise that was, how wise it is to try to share the gospel with someone who’s drunk, but I figured this fellow needs to hear the word, so I started to talk about Jesus. And it’s interesting, all of a sudden this drunken man completely changed his tune. And he began to tell us both about how much he loved Jesus. With deeply slurred speech, he said things like, oh, me and Jesus, we’re like tight, we’re like this.

Think about it. He went from lustfully describing the beauty of a stripper to describing his professed love for the Savior. He was certainly honoring the Lord with his lips, his speech as slurred as it was. I mean, he was saying some wonderful things about Jesus and expressing his love for Jesus. But my suspicion is that based upon how he had begun the conversation, that his heart was in reality far from the Lord. He honored the Lord with his lips, but his heart was far from him. Well, dear ones, similar to my friend’s drunken business colleague, the people of Jerusalem and their religious leaders in Isaiah’s time honored the Lord with their lips and by their meticulous external religiosity. But through his prophet Isaiah, the Lord exposes them as spiritually blind and hardened rebels whose hearts were in reality far from the Lord.

You might not have been able to tell it on the outside. They looked like very pious religious people. They were meticulous in keeping the ceremonies and observing the commandments, at least externally. But through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord confronts them that their hearts are far from the Lord. They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from God. Well, dear ones, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is found within a section of Isaiah that is dominated by the theme of Yahweh’s judgment against his faithless professed people. Although I will say that this judgment section, like many of the judgment sections that we see in Isaiah, is also interspersed with passages that point to the hope and restoration that would come to the people of God with the arrival of the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and the ushering in of the Messianic age.

This section extends basically from chapter 28 through chapter 33, and the judgment theme is brought out by the word woe, or it’s translated in the ESV as ah. This is a formulaic word that points to God’s judgment and curse against the unrepentant wicked. And so that draws us to consider the opening verses of this passage for this morning as we consider, first of all, Jerusalem’s spiritual stupor, Jerusalem’s spiritual stupor. Verse 9 says, astonish yourselves and be astonished, blind yourselves and be blind, be drunk but not with wine, stagger but not with strong drink, be astonished, blind yourselves, be drunk but not with wine. What’s he talking about there? He’s talking about the wine of God’s wrath that was going to come against his unfaithful people. Here Isaiah pronounces these words in particular against the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem.

And you say, well, how do we know that he’s talking about Jerusalem? The name, the city name Jerusalem is not explicitly mentioned in this passage. Well, Jerusalem is described in this particular chapter by the mysterious term Ariel. I would remind you the opening verses of this chapter where Isaiah writes, ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, that’s the clue. This is the city of David, the city where David encamps, in other words, Jerusalem. Add year to year and let the feasts run their round. You know, they’re very observant of the annual feasts, the religious feasts and the ceremonies. Yet, verse 2, I will distress Ariel and there shall be moaning and lamentation and she shall be to me like an Ariel and I will encamp against you all around and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siege works against you.

Now, the term Ariel, scholars debate what it means and how it should be translated. Some suggest it could be translated as lion of God or hero or even alter hearth, but however it is to be understood. Yes, it’s a mysterious term, but it’s a term that’s clearly being used to point to Jerusalem and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in particular, the religious leaders in the city of Jerusalem. So, what we have here in verse 9 is the Lord describing the spiritual state of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and he describes their spiritual state as one of blindness and drunkenness, blindness and stupor. In other words, they’re spiritually blind. They are in a spiritual stupor. They are unresponsive to Yahweh’s word coming to them through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah had spoken the word to them and they had hardened their hearts against it.

They had refused the word of the Lord and so now the Lord declares that he will judge them. And then it goes on to say this in verse 10, for the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers. This is interesting. Prophets and seers are different terms describing the same kind of individual. A prophet is a seer and a seer is a prophet because a seer is one who sees the revelation of the Lord. Oftentimes, the Lord gave his word to the prophets in Old Testament times through visions and so they were called seers. But prophets are those who speak the word of the Lord. And so these two terms, while slightly different in their emphasis, are talking about the same individuals.

And what do we learn here in verse 10? Well, not only are the inhabitants of Jerusalem in a stupor of spiritual blindness, they’re also spiritually asleep, spiritually unresponsive. And not only that, even their prophets, their seers, who should have known better, who should have given them the pure word of God, even they are likewise unresponsive and therefore they are blind guides of the blind. And we know what the Lord Jesus says about the blind leading the blind. They both fall into a ditch. Now notice that even though the people themselves are held responsible before God for their spiritual condition, that’s why God is pronouncing judgment against them because of their unrepentant unresponsiveness to the word of the Lord. At the same time, did you notice the wording here in verse 10? Did you notice that their spiritual blindness and incomprehension, their inability to perceive and understand the message of God’s word, this is ultimately a judgment that is imposed upon them by our sovereign God.

As it says in the beginning of this verse, For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep. The Lord has given you over to your spiritual unresponsiveness. The Lord is imposing this spiritual stupor upon you as a judgment. And so friends, this is what some would describe as a judicial stupor imposed by our sovereign God upon his faithless spiritually unresponsive people. As one commentator puts it, the divine mystery blinds all who prefer not to see. And then closely connected with verses 9 and 10 are verses 11 and 12, where it says this in verse 11, and the vision, the term vision, is speaking of a divine revelation. It’s speaking about the word of the Lord coming to them through prophets like the prophet Isaiah. The vision of all this, the vision of this judgment and this call to repentance, the vision of all this has become to you like what?

Like the words of a book that is sealed. Imagine you have a book, I don’t know about you, I love books, I enjoy reading books, but how frustrating it would be if you had a book and it’s sealed up and you can’t open it. This is how the vision, the word of the Lord to the people is described here. The vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, in other words, when men give this book to someone who’s educated and literate, what’s the response? When men give it to one who can read saying, read this, he says, I cannot for it is sealed. I can’t penetrate the message here in this book because I can’t open it up, or the scroll.

It’s the seal on the scroll. Verse 12, and when they give the book to one who cannot read, in other words, one who is illiterate and uneducated, what’s the response? Well, predictably saying, read this, he says, I cannot read, can’t help you with that. And what is the point of all of this? The point of all this, friends, is that God’s Word is a closed book to those who are spiritually blind, not just to the illiterate and uneducated, but even to the literate and educated. You can have all kinds of degrees hanging on your wall. You can be one who has spent years in study and research. You can be highly intelligent and yet be a fool, biblically speaking, because your heart is hardened against the Word of the Lord. It takes the sovereign intervention of the Holy Spirit of God to open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from God’s Word.

So a couple of points of application I’d like to make at this point. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this passage of God’s Word, which is referenced and pointed to and sometimes quoted in various times in the New Testament, this passage reminds us of the overall testimony of Holy Scripture to fallen man’s spiritual blindness apart from the intervention of God’s grace. Apart from God’s grace, we are spiritually blind. We are spiritually in a stupor we are spiritually asleep and more than that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Let’s consider just a couple of passages as we compare Scripture with Scripture that reinforces the truths that are being taught in our passage for today. Let’s go all the way back to Deuteronomy chapter 28. That chapter contains the blessings and the curses of the Mosaic covenant.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 and look with me if you would at verses 28 and 29. Deuteronomy 28 verses 28 and 29. This passage found in the midst of this lengthy section where the Lord through Moses describes the curses of the covenant and he says this verses 28 and 29. The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness and you shall not prosper in your ways and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually and there shall be no one to help you notice especially in verse 28 it says that the Lord will strike the unfaithful with what among other things he will strike them with confusion of mind or as some versions put it astonishment of heart. The Lord threatens to strike them with spiritual blindness confusion astonishment of heart and stay in Deuteronomy and just let’s go to the next chapter Deuteronomy 29 verses 2 to 4.

In this context where the Lord through Moses is renewing the covenant with the people and it says this in verses 2 through 4 of chapter 29 and Moses summoned all Israel and said to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt in other words remember you folks you witnessed with your very own eyes you witnessed the mighty signs and wonders that the Lord did in the exodus event the great plagues that he poured out upon the Egyptians and how he with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm had split the Red Sea and brought you through the Red Sea on dry land you saw that you witnessed it he’s saying to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land the great trials that your eyes saw the signs and those great wonders but notice verse 4 he says but to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear they saw it with their eyes you know many folks in Jesus’s day they saw Jesus do miracles they saw him heal the sick and raise the dead and multiply the loaves and the fishes and so forth and yet many who witnessed his miracles they saw it with their eyes they heard him with their ears but they refused to believe what makes the difference between the one who sees and believes and the one who sees but does not truly see does not truly believe the difference is the grace of God as Moses says and he’s he’s talking to the people of Israel he says to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear the point is that God’s word as clear as it is as perspicuous as it is you won’t see its significance you won’t embrace it you won’t see its relevance or importance unless the spirit of God opens your eyes and your heart to understand the Lord has to give us a heart of understanding and the reason for that is because of because of the fact that apart from his grace our natural fallen unregenerate inclination is to hold down to suppress the truth in unrighteousness we’re reminded of this by the apostle Paul let me just read Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 20 Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 20 and I know in this particular passage the apostle Paul has particularly in mind the Gentiles who have not been exposed to the word of God he’ll speak about the Jewish situation later on in chapter 2 for example but nevertheless this applies to every unbeliever whether they be Gentile or Jew and he says for the wrath of God is revealed not will be but is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness do what suppress or hold down the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them it’s right before their eyes it’s 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 you know sometimes folks will say well what evidence is there for God the answer to that question is everything everything outside of you everything that you see as you look out the window as you see that your brothers and sisters here in the church everything outside of us bombards us moment by moment day by day with the reality that God is because if God is not we would not be either external facts and internal facts as well our conscience also bears testimony we suppress that truth however we lie to ourselves that is our natural instinct as fallen sinners in Adam and it takes the intervention of divine omnipotent sovereign grace to change your heart and mind to open our blinded eyes to be to receive the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ just one more passage consider what Paul writes in Ephesians 4 verses 17 and 18 Ephesians chapter 4 verses 17 and 18 and he’s calling the Ephesian Christians to walk in newness of life not to walk or live their lives in accordance with their former pagan gentile ways and he says this now I this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do in the futility of their minds 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 notice how he describes the unregenerate the unbeliever the unbeliever is darkened in his or her understanding they might be highly intelligent and able to plumb the depths of of scientific facts or what have you but when it comes to spiritual things they are darkened in their understandings they’re alienated from the life of God why because of the ignorance that is in them well how can God blame them for their ignorance well it’s a culpable ignorance the ignorance is due to their hardness of heart they’re willfully ignorant and getting back to our passage for today this is precisely the situation with most of the inhabitants in the city of Jerusalem during Isaiah’s time including even the religious authorities they were darkened in their understanding they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness and so our passage for today joins with the rest of scriptural testimony to declare that only the intervention of God’s sovereign grace can save us from our spiritual stupor and bring us into God’s light only God’s amazing grace can cause us to say in the words of that beautiful classic hymn amazing grace what are we singing that hymn amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I’m found was what was blind but now I see I don’t know about you folks but looking back in my own life and seeing as in so far as I’m able to see the Lord’s work in my heart and life I know that there were many times I heard the gospel of Jesus many times before I was converted but it just didn’t click because my mind was darkened my heart was hardened the light was off but then when God’s grace intervened he turned the light on he illuminated my mind and then I finally said aha now I get it now I get it I’m a sinner Jesus is my savior he’s my only hope it’s by grace through faith apart from works but sadly the folks in Isaiah’s day did not see that but does that mean they were irreligious no but their religion was an external religion not a heart religion that brings me to my next and final point as we concentrate for a few minutes on verses 13 and 14 let’s consider externalism versus heart religion externalism versus heart religion in these stinging stunning words Isaiah conveys the word of the Lord to the people it says in verse 13 and the Lord said because this people draw near with their mouth oh they’re outwardly religious they they say all kinds of wonderful things about the Lord they draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips well while their hearts are far from me that is deeply offensive to God God is not interested in merely formal worship that doesn’t mean that the forms and and ceremonies of worship as as revealed in the word of God and in accordance with the regulative principle of worship that that’s not important that’s very important but if you go through the motions but your heart is not in it then that is an offense a deep offense to the Lord because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me their fear and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men they exalt their own traditions to a level of equality with the word of God whenever that happens tradition tends to trump the word of God therefore behold verse 14 I will again do wonderful things with this people the term wonder there is referring to miracles and we think of the again the mighty miracles that God performed in rescuing his people from their slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the foot of Mount Sinai and bringing them into the promised land but this is a different kind of wonder that is being spoken of in verse 14 do wonderful things with his people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden this is not the wonders of mercy but wonders of judgment friends in these verses Yahweh confronts his faithless covenant-breaking people for their shallow externalism in religion it’s understandable that those who are characterized by spiritual blindness and hardness of harden and living in a spiritual stupor would also be guilty of practicing externalism guilty of going through the motions practicing an external religion but devoid of a heart for God now verse 13 is the direct accusation the Lord brings against his faithless people and our Lord Jesus appropriately applied this passage to the Pharisees of his time because they like Israel’s contemporaries in Jerusalem they nullified the word of God by their human traditions human traditions that made void the word of God again let me just have you go back to I know we read this earlier in the service but Matthew 15 let me read verses six through nine it says this so for the sake Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees he says so for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God you hypocrites Jesus didn’t mince words he was very direct you hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said and this should be familiar because he’s quoting from our passage for today this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men and so because of this formalistic externalistic religion that they practiced God was going to bring his judgment upon them and one of the aspects of his judgment is that he would give them over to folly to false wisdom for they had devoted themselves not to godly wisdom as found in the word of God but to false pseudo wisdom I will again do a wonderful thing the Lord says in verse 14 God indeed he had done wonderful things miracles for his people through redeeming them by his grace from their slavery in Egypt but now he will act we are told with wonder upon wonder he will act with supernatural judgment the people relied upon false wisdom rather than godly wisdom and it’s interesting that the apostle Paul references this passage in first Corinthians chapter nine to one verse 19 let’s turn there first Corinthians chapter one verse 19 let me start reading at verse 18 to fill out the context a little bit says for the word of the cross that’s the gospel the good news of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ our Savior the word of the cross is what folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is what it is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of this discerning I will thwart friends the ultimate folly the ultimate in spiritual stupor is to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ but the ultimate wisdom is the wisdom of the cross again if you’re still there in first Corinthians chapter one let me read verses 20 through 25 the apostle Paul writes where is the one who is wise where is the scribe where is the debater of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world man’s idolatrous autonomous wisdom is declared by God to be folly has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe the unregenerate the worldly wise view the gospel as utter folly oh you Christians how can you believe that garbage but if the Lord has opened your eyes open the eyes of your heart to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel then the gospel is the very power and wisdom of God and the folly of the cross you know you Christians you believe in a crucified Messiah yes we do but he didn’t stay crucified he rose from the dead since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men my friends true godly wisdom is the wisdom of the gospel the wisdom from above which is grounded in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior do you rely on that wisdom do you ground your life your worldview your thinking and your living on that cross on that message of the gospel the world’s going to look at you and me and say those those are a bunch of fools but it is the folly of the gospel that is true wisdom we learn my friends in closing that biblical religion is not a religion of empty ritualism and ceremony or mere human tradition no dear ones true Christianity is a religion of the heart but it’s important to understand what the Bible means when it talks metaphorically about the heart see in our culture today when someone talks about the heart and they’re not talking about that physical organ in your chest that pumps blood through your system but they’re using the term heart metaphorically what does that usually mean in our culture oh you know my heart is with you what do we mean when we say things like that in our culture well we mean my empathy my my emotions are with you but in the Bible you need to understand friends that in the Bible the heart refers not merely to the emotions though it does include them rather the heart is the control center of our entire being intellect emotions and will and biblical faith involves the whole person biblical faith involves true reverence trust and love for God so in talking about their hearts being far from God it doesn’t you know Isaiah is not saying well these these inhabitants of Jerusalem and their religious leaders they’re just you know they don’t have enough you know they don’t get enough tingles when they praise God they don’t get the they don’t experience what what some have called the liver shiver you know it’s like the gooey gooey emotionalism when they’re coming to worship God you know there are different personalities among believers some are more emotional some are a little more intellectual the point is not do you have a deep emotional experience when the work when you worship God the point is is your entire being in the worship that’s what God wants he wants your heart he wants all of you mind body will emotion biblical faith involves true reverence trust and love for God not mere externalism not just going through the motions friends it is only by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior that we can truly draw near to God not only with our lips but with our hearts with the control center of our entire being do you know Christ is your Savior is your heart far from God or by the grace of God do you draw near to God from the heart if you draw near to God through faith in Jesus you draw near to God from your heart may God give us the grace not to merely honor the Lord with our lips but to give the Lord our hearts let’s pray heavenly father our sovereign and eternal God we thank you and praise you that you sent your son Jesus and Jesus is the heart of your love for us Jesus God incarnate is the one who displayed your amazing grace and love for us on the cross for as we’re told in scripture you demonstrate your love for us in this that while we were yet sinners rebel sinners Christ died for us praise you God for that give us the grace oh Lord open our eyes soften our hearts and draw us through Christ evermore into your presence as the curtain has been torn in two from top to bottom may we live in union and communion with Christ our Savior by faith entering moment by moment day by day into the heavenly holy of holies in Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said amen as we close our time and worship today I’d invite you to rise and let’s sing together hymn 446 be thou my vision 446

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September 28, 2025
A Covenant with Death, and a Precious Cornerstone

About this sermon

The rulers of Jerusalem boast, “We have made a covenant with death,” trusting their treaty with Egypt to shelter them from the coming scourge. Like a hiker ignoring a warning sign at a rotten footbridge, they ignore God’s word, and the storm will sweep away their refuge of lies. Against that false security the Lord lays in Zion a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation; whoever believes will not be in haste. The Lord warns scoffers to stop mocking and calls everyone to build on Christ, as Jesus teaches in Luke 6.

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Sermon transcript

The title of my sermon this morning is A Covenant with Death and a Precious Cornerstone. I would encourage especially the young people to follow along in your sermon outline. You’ll notice a number of key words you can be listening for today, five of them in particular, the words scoffers, trust, foundation, judgment, and mercy. Well, my dear friends, misplaced trust can cost you your life. There’s many ways to illustrate that principle, but let me give you a hypothetical example. Let’s say that you’re a hiker, and let’s say that you decide one day to take a hike in the deep forest on an old trail that is rarely hiked anymore, a trail that is practically abandoned. And on this abandoned trail, you come across an old wooden footbridge that crosses over a deep ravine. Now, as far as you can tell, you’ve been over many of these footbridges.

As far as you can tell, this footbridge appears to be solid and sound and stable, perfectly capable of holding up your weight. However, in front of the bridge, there’s an old, large, weather-beaten sign warning hikers not to use the bridge, which the sign declares to be unstable, even dangerous. Now, let’s say you look at the bridge, you read the sign, and then you look back at the bridge. And once again, it appears to you to be completely stable and intact. It seems like a perfectly stable and safe bridge. You even step onto a few of the planks at the entryway onto the bridge, and those planks seem perfectly solid and capable of holding up your weight. And so with this information in mind, you come to the conclusion that this weather-beaten warning sign at the entry point of the bridge must be an outdated sign, must be no longer relevant.

After all, you can see with your eyes the bridge looks fine. And so therefore, you decide to trust in your own powers of observation and your own assessment of the bridge’s condition, and so you begin your journey across the footbridge, eager to get to the other side, eager to continue your hike into the deep woods. But sadly, you will not reach the other side. You will plunge to your death. For a while to the naked eye, this footbridge appears to be solid and stable. What you don’t realize is that much of the wood on this bridge is actually rotted out from within. You can’t see it with the naked eye, but it’s rotted out, and it’s a very unstable bridge. You trust in your own powers, or I should say, your trust in your own powers of observation would prove to be tragically misplaced in that particular situation.

Your trust in your powers of observation would be tragically misplaced. Instead, you should have trusted the warning sign. In spite of the fact that this sign was old and weather-beaten and appeared to be outdated, you should have trusted the warning sign. Well, dear ones, in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah confronts the religious leaders in Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time, and these religious leaders, as we learned a couple of Lord’s Days ago, are ones who had scoffed at the word of the Lord that Isaiah had communicated to them. And so Isaiah confronts them once again, and in our passage for today, he confronts them in particular with their dangerously misplaced trust. You see, instead of trusting in Yahweh, their faithful covenant-keeping God, instead of trusting Yahweh to deliver the land from the international threat posed by a potential Assyrian invasion, and instead of heeding the word of the Lord to them through the prophet Isaiah with an attitude of trust and repentance and openness, instead of that, they trusted in the political and military alliance with Egypt that they had forged in order to ward off the Assyrian threat.

That was the historical context here. And this political alliance with Egypt was an alliance which Isaiah describes here, perhaps in the words of these religious leaders themselves. He describes it in verse 15 as a covenant with death. Beloved, in this passage, the Lord warns these scoffers that their covenant with death, in which they repose so much confidence, was a covenant that will not indeed be allowed to stand. He confronts them with the reality that their political alliance with Egypt cannot be relied upon to hold back the looming threat of a Syrian invasion. For trusting in pagan Egypt is as futile as trusting in necromancy or idolatry. For to trust in pagan occultism, to trust in idolatry, is to trust in lies and falsehood. The language of verse 15 brings this out. It says, because you have said we have made a covenant with death and with Sheol, we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter.

Sometimes in the scriptures, idolatry and occult practices, pagan practices like those, are described as lies. False idols, false gods are a lie. They are falsehood, and so forth. So friends, again, in contrast to the scoffers, misplaced trust in their political alliance with pagan Egypt, in place of this futile covenant with death, the Lord God promises to lay a tested, trustworthy foundation in Zion. That foundation is described in verse 16 as a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. And so as we will see, this precious cornerstone ultimately refers to the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So as we dive into our text for this morning, I would have you notice first of all the futility of the scoffers’ misplaced trust. The futility of the scoffers’ misplaced trust. It says this in verse 14.

Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, use scoffers. Again, notice the word Lord is in all capital letters. That’s Yahweh, the covenant name of God. It has in view God as a faithful redeemer, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. Hear the word of Yahweh, use scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. Who are these scoffers? Well, they’re described in this verse as those who rule the people of God in Jerusalem. And when we look at the larger context of this passage, we notice that these scoffers are in fact the religious leaders of Jerusalem, described as the priest and the prophet, whom Isaiah had referred to back in verses 7 to 13. And remember, a couple of Lord’s days ago, I preached on this. Remember that these religious leaders, these priests and prophets, are described as scoffers. They are described as denigrating the word of the Lord that came to them through Isaiah.

And how do they denigrate the word of the Lord? They basically say in verse 10, For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. In modern lingo, it would be like saying, oh, Isaiah’s words are like blah, blah, blah. That’s all it amounts to. So these leaders are scoffers, and yet the Lord directs his word even to them, calls them to awaken from their stupor and to heed his word. Now, we read that these leaders are scoffers in our passage for today. Let’s pause for a few moments and consider the scriptural status of scoffers. Let’s consider briefly what the scriptural testimony tells us about scoffers and about the sin of scoffing. Now, of course, the Bible indicates that we are all sinners. Romans 3.23, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

But sin manifests itself, of course, in a variety of ways in the lives of different individuals. We’re all sinners, but different sinners with different personalities and inclinations and so forth sin in different ways. And it’s interesting, of all of the variations of sinners that exist in the world, the scoffer is presented in the scriptures as one of the worst types of sinner. That’s not to say that scoffers are beyond hope. The Lord in his sovereign grace is capable of turning a scoffer into a submitter, into one who fears and trembles at the word of God and repents of his or her scoffing. But nevertheless, those who persist in scoffing at the word of God and thus the God of the word are described very negatively in the scriptures. And just to give a brief sampling of the scriptural view of the scoffer, let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 1, verse 22.

Proverbs chapter 1, verse 22. Let me start reading at verse 20. What you hear is the Lady Wisdom crying out in the streets. Wisdom cries aloud in the streets. In the markets she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy streets she cries out. At the entrance of the city gates she speaks. How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Notice, by the way, that the scoffer and the fool and the simple one, these are different ways, different angles of describing the same kind of individual. Obviously, a very negative picture is given of the scoffer in that verse. And staying in Proverbs, if you turn ahead to Proverbs chapter 29 and look at verse 8, it says this in Proverbs 29, verse 8.

Proverbs set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath. And then, of course, we think of the Psalm that is the gateway into the Psalter, Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, verse 1, how is the blessed man described by the psalmist in the opening entryway Psalm to the book of Psalms? It says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor does what? Nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. And so we see that being a scoffer is not a good thing to be in the estimation of Holy Scripture. And here, these are religious leaders in Jerusalem that are being described here as scoffers.

They should have known better. They should be among those who delight in the law of God and meditate on his law day and night, but apparently they don’t. In fact, they scoff at the word of God. And so we see in our passage for today the misplaced trust of the scoffer. We see that laid out for us in verse 15. Let’s take a look at that verse in our passage for today. Because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement. When the overwhelming whip passes through, it will not come to us. For we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter. Now it’s pretty clear that Isaiah is putting at least some of these words in the mouths of these scoffers. He’s basically drawing out the implications of their covenant with death, and although the scoffers themselves might have used this to say, hey, look, death, Sheol, that’s not going to touch us.

We’ve made a covenant with death. Well, what is this covenant with death? Well, some are of the view that this covenant of death and agreement with Sheol is referring specifically to pagan practices like necromancy or idol worship. Now certainly it is quite possible that the religious leaders in Jerusalem at that time were involved in some form of religious syncretism of one sort or another, syncretism being worshiping other gods alongside of worshiping Yahweh the Lord. However, while this may be the case, in light of the historical background and in light of the context of this passage, I agree with those scholars who view this covenant with death as a political alliance that these leaders had made with the land of Egypt in the hopes of warding off a looming military invasion by the Assyrian armies. Instead of trusting in Yahweh for their political deliverance and salvation from the Assyrians, they were trusting in the military might of pagan Egypt, and that misplaced trust on the part of these religious leaders exposes them as being hard-hearted in their unbelief and impenitence.

And so the Lord warns them of overwhelming judgment that is coming against the scoffer in verses 17 and following. If you skip down to verse 17, the Lord says this, and I will make justice the line and righteousness the plumb line. The line and the plumb line, that has to do with the standard of measurement here. I will make justice the line, righteousness the plumb line, and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter. Given the historical background of Isaiah’s day, this reference to hail and overwhelming waters, flood waters, is obviously, I believe, pointing to the overwhelming power of the invading Assyrians that threatened Jerusalem at that time and the whole land of Judah, as well as the northern kingdom at that time. And then he goes on to say, Then your covenant of death will be annulled.

You have so much confidence in this political alliance with Egypt, you’re trusting in pagan Egypt to deliver you when you should be trusting in Yahweh, your God, to deliver you. For the Lord was indeed the king and head of his people. Remember that Old Covenant Israel was a covenant of theocracy, and God was literally the king in Israel. They should have trusted their own king. They should have walked with him in repentance, faith, and obedience, but they didn’t. They hardened their hearts against the Lord. They went after other gods. They compromised, and they mocked and scoffed at the word of God. In contrast to the injustice and unrighteousness that these scoffers had manifested in their own treatment of the people, Yahweh would judge them by his own standard of true justice and righteousness, and the Lord will sweep away the refuge of lies, meaning their trust in Egypt by using the Assyrians, and later on in covenant history, the Babylonians, as his instruments of judgment against his faithless people.

And then we read this in verses 18 and 19. Then your covenant of death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, he’s mixing metaphors. He talks about a hail, he talks about floodwaters, he also talks about a scourge passing through. Again, he’s obviously speaking of the Assyrian military threat. He says, you will be beaten down by it. And it’s not just going to be a quick judgment. It’s going to be ongoing, as it says in verse 19. As often as it passes through, it will take you, for morning by morning it will pass through by day and by night, and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. This is not just some brief temporary judgment. This is going to be a judgment that has ongoing ramifications.

God’s judgment would be overwhelming and of long duration. Now, as we consider, beloved, the misplaced trust of the scoffer, we learn from passages like this. Well, first of all, notice that we see here that there is moral accountability for the scoffer. Even scoffers have an objective obligation to hear, believe, and submit to the Word of God. After all, who does the Lord through Isaiah address in verse 14? He addresses these scoffers who had mocked Isaiah’s words as blah, blah, blah, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, and so forth. But he says, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem. You see, friends, the rebellious state of the human heart does not absolve the rebel sinner from his or her obligation to hear, to believe, to receive, submit to, and obey the Word of God.

The Word is objectively true and authoritative and binding upon the conscience, and that is true whether or not you believe the Word of God is true, authoritative, and binding. It is, objectively speaking, true, authoritative, and binding, and it’s binding upon all whether or not the one who hears it trembles at the Word or scoffs at the Word. What about us? Do we, dear friends, do we tremble at the Word of God with a holy reverence and a firm trust in the Lord who has so graciously spoken His Word to us in the Scriptures? Do we scoff at the Word or do we tremble at the Word? May we, by the grace of God, place our faith in that which is foundational and trustworthy, the Word of the Lord, and not misplace our faith in that which is not the Word.

We also learn here that the scoffer’s trust is misplaced because it ultimately rests upon the Word’s works and clever schemings of finite sinful man and upon the ever-changing cultural norms of a godless society rather than being founded upon the sure and certain Word of God. The scoffer is ultimately a fool, even though many scoffers may be highly intelligent, well-educated, and so forth, but they are biblical fools, beloved, because they put their trust, they build their lives on the unstable shifting sands of mere human wisdom rather than upon the solid rock foundation of divine truth revealed through the prophets and apostles in the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God. Oh dear ones, may we place our trust upon God and His unchanging Word and not upon the shifting sands of mere human opinion or custom or norms, merely human norms.

And that leads me to my next point. We’ve seen the Lord through Isaiah confront these scoffers. We’ve seen their misplaced trust, their covenant of death, their alliance with Egypt would be destroyed, judgment would come upon them, but here’s good news. We learn next of the messianic foundation laid in Zion. In verse 16, we learn of the messianic foundation laid by the Lord in Zion. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, children, what does that word behold mean? That word means pay attention. That word means this is important, don’t miss this. Behold, the Lord says, I am the one who has laid a foundation in Zion. And that foundation is not Egypt. That foundation is not something, is not mere human strength. It’s not the power of the horse, it’s not the power of the sword, the power of politics, no, the Lord says, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation.

And then we hear this wonderful promise, whoever believes will not be in haste. If your faith is misplaced, then it causes anxiety when you realize it. But if your faith is in the Lord, you will not be in haste. You will be firm and settled and steady. The Lord says, I have laid a foundation. Now in contrast to the misplaced trust of the scoffers in their covenant of death, covenant with death, here Isaiah points us to the sure and certain foundation of the Lord’s Zion. And here Zion is referring to the Lord’s faithful remnant people. In the context that would seem to be what he’s referring to. And that sure foundation is described as a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. As I hope to show in a few moments, this is clearly referring to the promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

But we read of a number of stones here in this verse. We read of a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone. And what about the first reference to a stone, a tested stone? Now some believe that this tested or testing stone may refer to what is called a top stone or a capstone. In the words of one commentator, it may well refer to a top stone shaped by the master mason for placing at the end of the whole building process, so forming a test of trueness of line for the whole edifice. And it goes on to say, if the prophecy is truly messianic, then it is eschatological. And if eschatological, then the idea of a capstone is most apt, most appropriate. But whether or not it is the case that this particular specific figure of speech, this figure of the tested stone is to be understood as a capstone or a foundation stone, at the same time, it is also the case that Isaiah is clearly using the imagery of a foundational cornerstone here in this verse.

And since this is a messianic prophecy, it is certainly legitimate to view Christ, our Savior, as both the foundational cornerstone and the eschatological capstone of His elect Church, the true Zion. Christ is the foundation and culmination of redemptive history. He’s the cornerstone and He’s the capstone. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. And He is the foundation and the culmination not only of redemptive history, generically considered, but brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the foundation and the culmination of our redemption, our eternal salvation. Praise be to God. Now, it’s interesting, in verse 16, the Lord says, I am the one who has laid a foundation in Zion. In verse 16 of our passage for today, the stone is distinguished from the Lord Himself. And yet, if you go back to Isaiah, chapter 8, verse 14, we see that the Lord Himself is presented as the sanctuary and stone of His people.

Let’s just go back quickly to Isaiah, chapter 8, and let me quickly read verses 11 through 15. It says in that passage, For the Lord spoke thus to me with His strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He will become, notice verse 14, He will become a sanctuary and a stone. The Lord Himself will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now in this context here, the Lord as the stone is the stumbling block of those who do not believe in Him, whereas in our passage for today, the Lord lays the foundation for His elect Zion, His true people.

But here again, how do we square, how do we harmonize these different emphases? Is the Lord Himself the tested stone, or does the Lord lay the tested stone, the precious cornerstone? Well, friends, the Lord is both identified with this stone and yet also distinct from it. How do we explain that? Well, the best explanation is Jesus Christ. Think about Christ, think about the person of Christ. It is only in Jesus, the promised Messiah, that this stone imagery finds its ultimate fulfillment. For with respect to His divine nature, our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed fully divine. He is God, He is the divine stone, the rock of our salvation, and yet with respect to His human nature, He is distinct from God. And even within the Godhead, the person of the Son, the eternal Son, is distinct from the person of God the Father, though they share fully in the one divine essence.

And so, friends, the point is that this stone imagery is in line with the reality that Jesus is the Godman, the Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. And this stone imagery is in line with other Messianic prophecies that we find even in Isaiah itself. If you go back to that famous passage in Isaiah 9, verse 6, which is often reflected upon in the Christmas season, what do we read about the Messiah in this Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 9, verse 6? For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. So the Messiah is going to be a human child, a human son that is born. And yet it goes on to say, And the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name, the name represents who He is in His being, in essence, His name shall be called what?

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The Messiah is both man and God, true man, true God, united in one divine person. And therefore the Messiah is Himself the stone, the divine stone, and He is the stone that has been laid by the Father for our salvation. And so, and furthermore, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, we see that the Word of God clearly and frequently identifies Jesus Himself as this Messianic cornerstone. We see that, we saw that from the passage I read earlier from 1 Peter chapter 2. Let’s just look at a couple sample passages that reinforce this. One of them being another Messianic prophecy that we find in the passage that I opened up this service with today, Psalm 118 verses 22 through 24. It says in that passage, this is a Messianic prophecy.

It’s recognized as such throughout the New Testament. The stone that the builders rejected, that’s Jesus. The builders, the religious leaders rejected Him. The stone that the builders rejected has become what? The cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. The Apostle Paul also quotes from our passage today in Romans chapter 9. Let me read Romans 9 verses 30 to 33. In that passage we read these words. It says, What shall we say to this? What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is, a righteousness that is by faith. But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone as it is written. Guess what he quotes? He quotes from our passage for today. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. Again, to remind you of the passage I read earlier in the service from 1 Peter chapter 2. Let me just read verses 4-6 of that passage. It says this, As you come to Him, speaking of Christ, coming to Christ, as you come to Him, a living what? A living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in scripture, and these words should sound familiar, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. So what are we to do with this information? Christ is the stone. He is the rock of our salvation. He is the precious cornerstone. We need not rely on a covenant of death that would be misplaced trust, but we can rely upon Christ, for on Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. What are we to do with this information? Well, I think Jesus puts it well in Luke 6 verses 46-49. In Luke 6 verses 46-49, Jesus says the following, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like.

He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against the house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. Are you building your faith and life on Jesus Christ as the rock of your salvation, or are you building your life on sinking sand? And that leads me to my final point briefly. We learn here that we see here scoffers warned and exhorted. Scoffers here are warned and exhorted. In verse 20 it says, For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

You know, I read this verse, and the one thing that comes to mind, you who are married will get this, is what I call the battle for the bed sheet. Maybe you are familiar with that. I don’t know about you folks, but when I get in bed, I love to wrap the covers around me. I like nice and tight. But sometimes my wife, half asleep, will turn over and try to drag the sheets from me, and I am told that I do the same thing. You know, she is settling down, drifting off to sleep, and all of a sudden I turn over and take half of the bed sheets with me. It is an uncomfortable thing not to be fully covered at night, especially if it is cold in the room. It is also an uncomfortable thing if you are sleeping on a mattress that is not long enough.

Maybe you are a tall person and your feet hang over the front of the mattress, and maybe you can sleep if that is the case, but I can’t sleep unless my feet are under the covers. But here we, and obviously this is not what Isaiah is directly talking about, but he is saying, he gives an illustration. He says, for the bed is too short to stretch oneself on. It is not big enough. It is not big enough to rest in, to find comfort in. And the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. What is the point he is making by this illustration? The point he is making is that the scoffers’ alliance with Egypt, their covenant with death, will be insufficient to provide them with true protection. With true rest. It will be futile. And then he goes on to say in verse 21, For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perizem, as in the valley of Gibeon he will be roused.

Now, those are historical references to events in redemptive history where God came to the rescue of his people, where God, the divine warrior, comes and he fights for his people by bringing judgment against their foreign enemies. But now we are told that the Lord is about to do something strange, unusual. It says the Lord will rise up as he did in days of old against your enemies, but he will rise up to do what? To do his deeds. Strange is his deed. And to work his work. Alien is his work. And what is that strange deed, that strange work? The strange deed is that the Lord, instead of judging the foreign enemies of God’s people, is going to turn his judgment upon them because of their faithlessness, their unbelief, their impenitence. And then it goes on to say, Now therefore, this being the case, this warning being the case, therefore, what’s the conclusion?

Do not scoff lest your bonds be made strong. Don’t make it worse. Stop your scoffing. For I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land. In other words, beloved, the scoffers are commanded to stop their scoffing and are warned of the dire consequences if they continue unrepentant on the road of scoffing. This is a warning of destruction that would not only impact themselves, but will be against, we are told, the whole land. He says the Lord God of hosts is against not just you scoffers, not just you religious leaders, but against the whole land, or as the NASB translates it, on all the earth. Let them turn from their misplaced trust and mockery at God’s word and let them in faith and repentance finally heed the word of the Lord.

Oh dear ones, in conclusion, may God give all of us the grace to avoid sitting in the seat of scoffers as the psalmist speaks of in Psalm 1 verse 1. Let us avoid the rotting bridge of misplaced trust lest we plunge into the abyss of eternal ruin, instead, by the grace of God, may we trust in the crosswork of Christ as the only bridge that can help us to cross the chasm, that can bring us through the dark forest of this present age into life eternal. And may God give us the grace to be able to say and sing from our hearts, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground, is sinking sand. And may he give us the grace to sing and pray to the Lord Jesus in the words of our closing hymn that we’re going to sing in just a moment.

Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you, Lord God, that Christ is the rock, solid source and foundation of our salvation, indeed, on Christ the solid rock we stand. Give us the grace to build our lives and our faith upon him as he is revealed in your word. And may we be those, Lord, who tremble with joy at your word and not those who scoff at it. May we receive it, may we rest upon it, may we rest upon Christ, for he is the one revealed in the word. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen. We close our time.

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.

September 21, 2025
Leviathan Punished, the Vineyard Protected

About this sermon

Isaiah 27 announces that on that day the Lord, with his hard and great and strong sword, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing and twisting serpent, and slay the dragon of the sea. Leviathan likely stands for the nations hostile to God’s people, but behind them stands the ancient serpent, Satan. God disciplines and purifies his own people, for judgment begins with the household of God, but it does not end there. His sword will finally fall on all the enemies of his people, and Christ has already crushed the serpent’s head.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word and we continue our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah and this morning we are in Isaiah 27 verses 1 through 6. Title of my sermon this morning Leviathan punished the vineyard protected and I’m going to begin reading at chapter 26 the first 20 and read through chapter 27 verse 6 to fill out the context a bit and I will admit up front that there is so much packed into this brief passage of scripture that I’m going to have to do a part two on the next Lord’s Day but again Leviathan punished the vineyard protected here the word of God I’ll begin reading at chapter 26 verse 20. Come my people enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by for behold the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it and will no more cover its slain in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent Leviathan the twisting serpent and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea in that day a pleasant vineyard sing of it I the Lord emits keeper every moment I water it lest anyone punish it I keep it night and day I have no wrath would that I had thorns and briars to battle I would march against them I would burn them up together or let them lay hold of my protection let them make peace with me let them make peace with me in days to come Jacob shall take root Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit 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 Oh Lord visit this vineyard this local expression of the vineyard of Christ Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church as we consider this portion of Holy Scripture may your spirit take this word and plant it deeply in our hearts and souls that it might bear much spiritual fruit that brings glory and honor and praise to your name build us up and strengthen us in our most holy faith challenge us and deepen our faith and repentance that we might walk after a new obedience out of gratitude for your gift of salvation and once again Lord we ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful to your God-breathed inerrant infallible authoritative word we pray all these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen may be seated well children there’s a number of words that I’d encourage you to listen for in once again in my sermon this morning and they’re listed on the sermon outline they are Leviathan serpent dragon sword vineyard and gospel well dear ones if you’ve ever been to our house as I know many of you have you may have noticed that in our backyard there is a steep hill behind a retaining wall and at the top of that hill of our is a fence at the top that that shields our property from the woods that lie behind it now that steep hill is host to various flowers and plants but regrettably it’s also host to a lot of weeds and so in order to keep the hill from turning into a complete weed infested jungle and in order to keep it looking at least somewhat presentable to the public eye Sharon and I periodically have to put on our grubby clothes and climb up that hill to manage the plant growth and to root out the weeds and actually Sharon does much more the weeding than I do truth be told now of course weeds tend to be quite visible easy to spot at least most of the time but there are other things on that hill that are not quite so visible for example besides weeds our backyard is also home to various critters and among those critters are snakes now I’m fairly certain that there are many more snakes on that hill and in the ground on that hill then can be seen by the naked eye but Sharon and I have occasionally spotted small state snakes thankfully small snakes on that hill blending in quite well with the scenery and even sunbathing on top of our retaining wall of course I don’t know about you folks but knowing that some snakes might be slithering around on the ground where I’m trying to get my footing as I’m trying to walk up that hill and do some weeding that kind of creeps me out I try not to think about it but it’s hard not to think about it and of all the critters in the world that creep me out and just make my skin crawl few critters give me the creeps more than snakes do even though I’m pretty sure that any snakes we might encounter on our hill in our backyard are of the harmless variety and I’m sure that many of you in in taking care of and managing your yards and your gardens have to deal with similar things well friends in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning we read about a particular snake a snake that’s much more dangerous and significant than the kinds of snakes that we might encounter on our backyard this snake is a snake that Isaiah calls Leviathan and not only is he described as a a snake but he’s also described as a dragon and so today we’re going to focus especially on the identity and the description of Leviathan and on the decisive defeat and destruction of Leviathan all of which as we will see paves the way for the restoration of the Lord’s Vineyard we’ll be giving more focus on what this passage has to teach us about the Lord’s Vineyard on the next Lord’s Day but but verses 2 through 6 are the result of verse 1 and what is spoken of in verse 1 now remember the setting in context of this section of the prophet Isaiah Isaiah our passage for today is found within a section of the book of Isaiah where Isaiah is is speaking of God’s plans for the world an eschatological section a section that some scholars refer to as the Isaiah apocalypse as one commentator puts it the eschatological slash apocalyptic section of Isaiah 24 through 27 is concerned with God’s final purposes in the world it’s eschatological in other words has to do with with God’s final plans and purposes and he goes on to say the prophecies recorded here concern the whole world but they also relate to Israel to God’s people in other words and her place in the universal purposes of God and so with all of that in mind let’s turn our attention to this very strange figure that we read of here the figure of Leviathan and as we consider Leviathan identified and described Leviathan identified and described let me again read verse 1 of chapter 27 it says in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent Leviathan the twisting serpent and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea the figure known as Leviathan shows up a number of times in the scriptures especially in particular in the Old Testament scriptures in this passage Leviathan is described as the fleeing serpent and the twisting serpent descriptions which seem to highlight the creature’s skill of evasiveness and deceptiveness and assuming that as Isaiah refers to the drag that Isaiah’s reference rather to the dragon is also just another way of describing Leviathan which the context would seem to suggest the dragon imagery points to Leviathan as being a dangerous creature so whatever else Leviathan is intended to represent Leviathan is an evasive deceptive and dangerous opponent of God and his people let’s consider just a few other passages in scripture that refer to Leviathan so we can kind of get a sense of the the range of how that term is used in the scriptures the term Leviathan is used in different ways depending upon the context and we’re just going to check out a few of them let’s turn our attention to the Psalms let’s turn over to Psalm 74 verse 14 Psalm 74 verse 14 in this passage we read these words speaking of God’s might as the king from of old the king who works salvation in the midst of the earth for his people it says this the psalmist says to the Lord you crushed the heads of Leviathan you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness now I want you to notice one thing about what this psalmist is saying about Leviathan in this particular psalm Leviathan notice he has not just a head but heads plural and so clearly from this passage the this leads to the conclusion that sometimes the term Leviathan is being used not to describe an actual creature in nature but being used as a symbol that points to the forces of evil whether those forces be human or demonic but on the other hand there is Psalm 104 verse 26 let’s turn to Psalm 104 verse 26 I’ll go ahead and read that it says this there go the ships and Leviathan which you formed to play in it now in this verse it seems that the psalmist is referring if this is a creation psalm and in this verse the psalmist is referring to an actual sea dwelling creature a large sea dwelling creature so again this points out that sometimes in scripture Leviathan is used to refer to an actual creature of nature now some scholars believe that in certain passages where Leviathan is mentioned or alluded to such as in the book of Job the term is being used to refer to a large dangerous creature that inhabits the waters some scholars have suggested that it’s a good description of a crocodile and just to give you an example of this let’s turn to Job 41 and look at the first section of that chapter Job chapter 41 beginning at verse 1 it says this and here in this chapter the Lord is addressing Job this is towards the end of the book of Job and the Lord is giving his speech and confronting Job and it says this can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook or press down his tongue with a cord can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook will he make many pleas to you will he speak to you soft words will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever will you play with him as with a bird in other words can you domesticate him and play with him as a bird or will you put him on a leash for your girls can Leviathan be domesticated and turned into a pet that you would be safe around your children will traders bargain over him will they divide him up among the merchants can you fill his skin with harpoons he’s obviously the implication is he’s got really thick fearsome skin or his head with the fishing spears lay your hands on him remember the battle you will not do it again in other words you don’t want to mess with this creature Leviathan and again so in passages like the one I just read to you it seems that Leviathan is referring to some actual creature of nature some monstrous creature like a large crocodile but in any way in any case from this sampling of passages it appears that the term Leviathan is sometimes used as I said to refer to an actual creature whether it be a crocodile or some other dangerous creature that inhabits the waters but at other times the term Leviathan is used as a symbol for the monstrous multi-headed serpentine satanic enemies of God and God’s people enemies of God that threaten oppress and persecute the people of God evangelical Bible commentator GW Grogan says this about this first verse of our passage for today he says this fascinating verse presents a graphic picture of God the great warrior going into battle against fearsome and monstrous enemies and utterly defeating them the language used draws on mythology but this need caused us no serious problems and just as an aside many scholars have noted that there are many parallels between the Leviathan language in the Old Testament and the Ugaritic mythology that has a figure known as I believe it’s Lotan but in any case as Grogan points out this need cause us no serious problems writers whether of scripture or otherwise frequently use illustrative material drawing that material from a wide variety of sources nature history mythology or literature the use of mythology here simply shows that Isaiah and his readers knew the mythological stories not that they believed them and so in other words friends through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration Isaiah utilizes this mythological figure of Leviathan that was the well-known to his contemporaries and he uses that as a symbol for the very real non mythological enemies of God and God’s people whether those enemies be foreign nations human enemies like the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Egyptians or whether we’re talking about demonic enemies of God’s people now in the original context of our passage for today the context into which the prophet Isaiah spoke the Word of God in that redemptive historical context Leviathan is a fitting symbol for the international enemies that God’s covenant people encountered in the ancient world enemies as I mentioned such as Egypt Assyria and a little bit later on from the standpoint of Isaiah’s own day Babylon the Empire of Babylon these pagan Gentile nations had been like twisting snakes and dangerous dragons in their treatment of God’s covenant people but all of this should remind us of the fact beloved that there was a spiritual snake a spiritual Leviathan that inspired and empowered the national enemies of God’s ancient covenant people in their hostility and opposition to God’s people Leviathan here as Isaiah refers to it is probably referring to these international enemies of God’s people but behind those unbelieving international enemies of God’s people lay a great serpent a spiritual Leviathan and you know who I’m talking about that spiritual Leviathan is of course Satan himself along with his demonic and human servants now of course as you brothers and sisters probably know throughout the scriptures Satan is presented to us under the form of a serpent and also sometimes under the form of a dragon and just to give you a couple of reminders from the scriptures let’s go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 you remember this chapter which recounts mankind’s fall in the garden and notice what it says the term Satan is not explicitly used but it’s clear from later biblical revelation that that Moses here in Genesis 3 is referring to Satan it says this in verse 1 now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord had made and then skip down to verses 14 and 15 after Satan through the snake had tempted Adam and Eve and and gotten them to eat of the forbidden fruit and then God confronts them in the spirit of the day and and pronounces his judgment against them it says this in verses 14 the Lord God said to the serpent here God addresses the serpent because you have done this cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel the theologians rightly call this the proto-evangel the first announcement of the gospel because this gives in in a very general seed form the promise that God would send a Savior to undo the damage done by Satan the serpent the spiritual Leviathan and it says he shall bruise he Christ shall bruise your head you shall bruise his heel Christ conquered Satan by his suffering and death upon the cross so again here in this passage Satan approaches Adam and Eve either under the form of a serpent or by possessing and using a serpent as his instrument in tempting the first couple and we see this similar imagery showing up in the New Testament if you turn to Romans chapter 16 verse 20 the apostle Paul in Romans 16 verse 20 says this let me just get there just a sec Romans 16 verse 20 the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet he shall crush your head you shall bruise his heel right this is an illusion back to the promise of Genesis 3 15 the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you notice we talked about benedictions at during the adult morning instruction period this morning and notice this benediction from the Lord comes in on the heels of the Lord crushing Satan under his feet pun intended by the way and then we have Revelation 12 verses 1 through 6 let’s turn to that Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 6 where again though the term Leviathan is not directly used this is this is the same kind of dragon language that Isaiah uses in Isaiah 27 verse 1 let me just read these verses Revelation 12 1 through 6 it says this and and a great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the Sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars she was pregnant and was crying out in pains and the agony of giving birth and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his heads seven diadems this is speaking of Satan obviously his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven representing the demonic hosts that joined Satan in his rebellion and cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child he might devour it she gave birth to a male child one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron that’s Christ but her child was caught up to God and to his throne and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days a lot of stuff in that passage but they I bring this up because again Satan here is described in this apocalyptic passage as great a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns in other words in this figure Satan is described as fierce powerful and a devouring threat to God’s people just like Leviathan is described in our passage for today in verse 1 again it says in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent Leviathan the twisting serpent and will slay the dragon that was that is in the sea dear ones the word of God makes it clear that Satan and his demonic hosts are real they’re not mythology they’re very real though they are represented and symbolized by this Leviathan figure here in Isaiah they are very real and very powerful enemies that we believers must guard against for as first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 tells us Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour not only is he compared to a snake and a dragon he’s also compared to a predatory lion if you turn to first Peter 5 let me just read verses 6 through 11 it says there humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you causing all casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you be sober minded be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour what are we to do in response to that the Holy Spirit through Peter says resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world and after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you to him be the Dominion forever and ever amen so friends be aware of this supernatural enemy this spiritual Leviathan Satan be aware of his schemes but at the same time brothers and sisters do not live in paralyzing fear of the spiritual Leviathan of Satan and of Satan’s servants and you may say well wait a minute Leviathan is powerful Leviathan is deceptive how do we ever how are we ever going to stand against Leviathan well we need not fear Leviathan because through Jesus Christ the mighty Leviathan has been decisively defeated and will be finally destroyed Christ defeated Satan on the cross he not only died for our sins on the cross he also defeated our arch enemy the accuser of the brethren by his death on the cross and that leads me to my next and final point as we consider the decisive defeat and destruction of Leviathan the decisive defeat and destruction of Leviathan now this verse as many passages prophetic passages in Isaiah begins with that eschatological phrase in that day this is apocalyptic prophetic language and this is ultimately the eschatological day ultimately this would be the day of the Lord the final day of the Lord when Jesus returns in glory and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth but we have a precursor to that day already in this new covenant messianic age for we brothers and sisters we find ourselves living in what the scriptures call the last days the days that are leading up to that final eschatological day of the Lord and here in this passage in this prophetic section Yahweh the Covenant Lord of God’s people is depicted as defeating Leviathan and what is his instrument in defeating Leviathan it is described here as his hard and great and strong sword this is an instrument a weapon that the Lord uses that is sure to carry out his plan of wrath and judgment against Leviathan again the scriptures periodically depict the Lord as wielding a sword against his enemies the Lord is often depicted in the scriptures as as the divine warrior who fights for God’s people we see that for example if you turn back to Deuteronomy 32 verses 40 and 42 excuse me 40 through 42 this is Deuteronomy 32 verses 40 through 42 says this in the midst of this song of Moses it says this for I lift up my hand to heaven and swear as I live forever if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh and the blood of the slain and the captives with the long-haired heads of the enemy so God is pictured as holding a sword and bringing a sword of judgment against his enemies we see that same kind of language being used for example in Psalm 7 verses 12 and 13 if you look at Psalm 7 verses 12 and 13 it says this if a man does not repent God will wet his sword he has bent and readied his bow not only does is the Lord depicted as a divine warrior who has a sword but he also has a bow and arrows says he has prepared for him his deadly weapons making his arrows fiery shafts in the context of our passage for today in Isaiah we are told that the Lord’s sword is going to come against Leviathan and in this passage the Lord sword represents his punitive power against his enemies and the enemies of his people and his punitive power is effective and it will bring judgment upon those who persist in being the enemies of God and his people Yahweh had used and he would use the forces of Leviathan such as the pagan forces of Assyria Babylon and Egypt he used those forces to punish and to purify and to chase and to discipline his faithless people so God’s sword of of chastisement had been against his faithless people but now we are told that he will take his sword off of his people who have been purified through this discipline and would direct that sword of judgment against all of his and our enemies as the Apostle Peter reminds us judgment begins with the household of God but judgment does not end with the household of God as 1st Peter 4 17 and 18 tell us it says in that passage we just get there just a sec for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God and if it begins with us what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God and if the righteous is scarcely saved what will be what will become of the ungodly and the sinner therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will and trust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good while God had used the forces of Leviathan in Old Testament times to purge and to chasten and to purify his people in this eschatological passage Yahweh promises that he will turn his hard and great and strong sword against the enemies of his people against those whom he had used previously to chasten his people but in the case of the satanic forces of Leviathan the Lord’s sword of judgment would bring decisive defeat and total destruction you can read about that in Revelation 19 verses 11 through 16 which depicts Christ the living word bringing judgment upon the unbelieving nations and what is the means of his judgment it is a sword coming out of his mouth in other words by his word of judgment and wrath in this passage my friends Leviathan and his forces represented especially the Assyrians and later on the Babylonians who crushed Israel and Judah respectively and evicted them from the promised land by taking them into exile their defeat and destruction by the punitive power of God would pave the way for the Lord’s vineyard his exiled people to be renewed and restored not only to the promised land but ultimately to the permanent favor and protection of the Lord again more on this next Lord’s Day but in closing dear ones the hard and strong and great sword of the Lord has the power to conquer the forces of Leviathan and to effect his holy wrath and judgment upon the unrepentant and unbelieving but friends in this present new covenant age the sword of the Lord namely his word does not simply bring judgment it does bring judgment to those who refuse to believe it to those who refuse to repent and believe but the word of the Lord the sword of the Lord is also in this new covenant age it is a sword of grace and mercy a sword that cuts us down cuts down our pride and humbles us before the Lord showing us our sin and our need for Christ as our Savior it also the sword of the Lord offers mercy and grace to the repentant through the word through the message of the gospel it is this sword of the Lord that was that we as the church are to take up along with the rest of the armor of God in our spiritual warfare against the forces of Leviathan who seek to destroy and deceive Christ’s church we are reminded of this sword of the Lord in Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 20 Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 to 20 says this finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers of this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and notice the sword of the spirit which is the word of God in particular Paul has in mind the gospel message praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplications for all the Saints and also for me that words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak the sword of the spirit not only brings judgment to those who refuse to repent it also brings mercy to those who repent and believe the gospel let us as a church wield this gospel sword not only to destroy the lies of Leviathan the satanic lie lies of Leviathan but let us wield it to bring gospel mercy to those who are in the serpent’s grip that they might be freed and might know Christ may you repent and believe the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ that you may be released from the forces of Leviathan let us pray our Lord and Father in heaven we thank you and praise you that Satan has been decisively defeated though he still remains active in this present age yet his activities have been restrained by your providence and by the word of the gospel and so we pray that we might not live in fear of Leviathan but we might indeed take up the sword of the spirit the word of God and declare gospel truth for those who are under his grips that they might be delivered we pray all these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen as we close our time in worship let’s rise and we’ll sing hymn number 406 Jesus with thy church abide we’ll sing the first four stanzas and then six and nine stanzas one through four and six and nine let’s rise and sing together

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.

August 17, 2025