Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Highlights from the Prophet Isaiah

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

A Signal to the Nations

About this sermon

“In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples; of him shall the nations inquire.” Paul quotes this in Romans 15 to show that Christ came for the Gentiles as well as Israel. The Lord will recover the remnant of his people from every land, and the jealousy between Ephraim and Judah will end in a united people. He will make a highway for them, as he did when Israel came up from Egypt, a greater exodus in the Messianic age. Isaiah calls whoever sees his sin and need to look to that signal, Christ.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word as we return to our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah. This morning we are again in Isaiah 11 and my sermon text for this morning is Isaiah 11 verses 10-16. Isaiah 11 verses 10-16. That’s found on page 684 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, let us hear the Word of God. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart and those who harass Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west and together they shall plunder the peoples of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab and the Ammonites shall obey them. And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt and will wave his hand over the river with his scorching breath and strike it into seven channels. And he will lead people across in sandals and there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnants that remains of his people as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt. Dear ones, 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, what an amazing thing that you have spoken. You’ve given to us clear instruction in the Holy Scriptures, which are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We would ask, O Lord, as we consider this portion of your holy word that your spirit, O Lord, would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word, illuminate us, enlighten us, teach us with your spirit through the word. And we pray, O God, that the seed of your word would indeed take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives, fruit that brings praise and glory and honor to your holy name. And once again, Lord, we ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I, your unworthy servant, may only speak 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. Dear ones, the title of my sermon this morning is A Signal to the Nations, A Signal to the Nations. And the key words the young people can be listening for in my sermon today are the words signal, unity, exodus, missions, and Messiah. Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Christian faith is a missionary faith. After His resurrection, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ commanded His apostles and therefore commanded His church to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age as our Lord revealed and spoke to His disciples in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20.

In one of His post-resurrection appearances to His disciples, our resurrected Lord instructed them in the words that we read in Luke 24 verses 44 through 48. If you want to turn there, Luke chapter 24 verses 44 through 48, our Lord Jesus says this. Then He said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And notice verse 47, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Now, dear friends, I bring this to your attention because not all world religions are missionary religions, believe it or not. Some are, but not all are. To give you an example, think of the religion of Judaism as it exists today in its various forms. Now, Judaism certainly welcomes converts, but as a general rule, most denominations of Judaism do not actively engage in proselytism. They don’t actively engage in the practice of trying to convince non-Jews to become Jews. But that is different when it comes to Christianity. Beloved, our Christian faith is by definition a missionary faith. Why? Well, because our God is a missionary God. He is a God who through His Son, Jesus Christ, actively sends His Son, He seeks and saves that which is lost. And you and I are evidence of that, brothers and sisters.

For we did not seek God first, He first sought us before we sought Him. We love Him because He first loved us. He is the Hound of Heaven who sought us out and brought us in by His sovereign grace. And this fact is not just, this is not just true about God with the coming of Christ and the New Testament era. It’s not that God in Old Testament times was not a missionary God, but with the sending of His Son, He has had a change of heart, if you will. No, friends, this has always been true about God throughout redemptive history. God has always been a missionary God. He didn’t just suddenly embrace a missionary impulse when He decided to send His Son into this world. No, even in the long ages of the Old Testament era, God was preparing His people and therefore was preparing by implication preparing the world for the coming of the promised Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

And this Messiah would come not just as the Savior of the Jews, the Savior of Israel, His professed covenant people, but no, He would come as the Savior of the world, Jews who believe in Him and Gentiles who believe in Him as well. It is this promised Messiah whom God would raise up as a signal, as a rallying point for the nations and peoples of humanity. And in its evangelistic and missionary calling, the true visible Church of Jesus Christ continues to this day to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and to lift up the good news about Jesus as a signal, a rallying point to the nations as through its preaching and teaching and evangelistic ministries, it calls all peoples and all nations and tongues and tribes everywhere to turn in faith and repentance to Christ and Christ alone for salvation and to come into the messianic fellowship of the Church which is the true Israel of God.

Our passage for this morning points us to that fact as it speaks of Jesus the Messiah as a signal to the nations and that brings me to my first point this morning as we turn our attention to our text for today and I would have you focus first of all on verses 10-12 as we consider Jesus the Messiah as a signal to the nations. It says this beginning in verse 10, it says, in that day the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious. Now how does this verse start off? It starts off with those significant words in that day. It starts with that day. In what day? What’s he talking about? Well this is what the theologians call eschatological language.

When prophets like the prophet Isaiah speak of that day they’re speaking prophetically of a future day, a future time and in the context of this passage that day refers to the eschatological day of the messianic new covenant era, that era of redemptive history which began with the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and which will continue even into the time when Jesus returns in glory and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells. And what will happen in that day, that day of the Messiah, that new covenant messianic age? Well in that day someone who is referred to as the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the people, a signal to the peoples which in context is speaking not just to his people, his covenant people as they existed back in Isaiah’s day, but to the peoples of the nations of humanity.

Now who is this root of Jesse? What is this referred to? Children who was Jesse in the Bible? Well Jesse was King David’s father and so the reference here to Jesse is a reference to the royal messianic line. Remember God’s word promises that the Messiah would come from the house and lineage of King David but not only was Jesus great David’s greater son, not only was Jesus a descendant of King David, Royal King David, he was also the root of Jesse and we’ll speak about in a few moments what that means. The root of Jesse in other words this is a messianic title so this is a messianic prophecy. Now when you think about it historically speaking the Babylonian exile of the southern kingdom would cut down the royal line of David as an axe cuts down a tree and so when the southern kingdom was exiled into the land of Babylon there was no king, no royal king in the lineage of David to sit on David’s throne for centuries.

But friends just because there was no king from the house of David ruling on David’s throne after the Babylonian exile that does not mean that God’s promises to David were null and void. God’s promises always prove true even if outward circumstances would seem on the surface level at least to disprove them. God’s promises his covenant promises to David are always true. Though the tree of David had been cut down in the exile a Davidic root still remained. As Dr. E.J. Young explains in commenting on this passage he says after the tree has been felled the root remains in the ground and from it alone new life can come. Jesus the promised Messiah is the promised root of Jesse for he is great David’s greater son. He is the one who restores and fulfills the meaning of David’s royal dynasty.

Again to quote from Dr. Young the Messiah is seen to be a support and stay for Jesse’s family. Christ is the root of Jesse because he is the support and stay of the royal line of the Messiah. He is the promised anointed king the promised Messiah which simply means anointed one. Just as a root is the support and stay for a tree. And this kind of language this tree language is very prominent in this chapter if you go back to verse 1 verse 1 of chapter 11 begins by saying there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. The stump indicating the tree has been cut down in God’s judgment. God had judged the kingdom the southern kingdom the theocratic kingdom because of the unfaithfulness of the descendants of David. But a stump remained and new life would come from that stump.

And of course that’s fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 11 verse 1 there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. Now Paul the apostle references chapter 11 verse 10 in Romans chapter 15 verse 12. Let me just have you turn there and let me read that and make a few comments on that briefly. Romans chapter 15 verse 12 where we read these words and again Isaiah says the root of Jesse will come even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope. Again he is speaking here of how in Christ both Jew and Gentile who believe in him are brought into the one covenant people of God the one family of God. And of course the apostle John writing under the Spirit’s inspiration in Revelation 22 verse 16 also speaks of Christ as the root and offspring of David.

If you turn to Revelation chapter 22 and look at verse 16 it says this I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. And notice what Jesus says about himself he says I am the root and the descendant of David the bright morning star. He is the root of David he is the origin the support and the stay of David but he is also with respect to his human nature he is the descendant of David just as the scriptures promise the Messiah would be. And it is this root of Jesse again who will stand we are told in our passage for today in verse 10 the root of Jesse shall stand as a what a signal for the peoples. Now this two words term signal can also be translated as a banner that’s how the New King James version translates it or it could be translated as an ensign that’s how the revised standard version translates it.

But the point is that Jesus the Messiah himself as he is proclaimed in the gospel message he would be a rallying point for all nations as it says of him shall the nations inquire. The nations not just the nation not just the covenant people of God as they existed in Old Testament times but the true people of God the elect from all tribes and tongues and peoples and nations of him shall the nations inquire for Christ in being lifted up on the cross would draw all peoples to himself. Turn with me if you would to John 3 and let me read verses John 14 and 15 we’re all familiar with John 316 but we need to read John 316 in view of the context that precedes it in John 3 beginning at verse 14 the Apostle John reminds us of the event that occurred in the Old Testament where God’s judgment came went out among the people by sending serpents among them and the serpents began to poison the people and they began to die and the Lord instructed Moses to set up a bronze serpent so that when the serpent was lifted up if you got bitten by one of these poisonous snakes if you looked at that bronze serpent you would be healed.

It says in verse 14 that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up and what will happen that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. So we see the Messiah being lifted up as a signal to the nations we see this also this thought also being brought out in John chapter 12 verse 32 John chapter 12 verse 32 where the Lord Jesus says this and I when I am lifted up from the earth he’s speaking of his crucifixion being raised up on the cross when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. There is something drawing attractive about the crucified resurrected Jesus. It is attractive the message of salvation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus is attractive to those of us who know ourselves to be sinners who desperately need God’s forgiving grace and mercy in Christ.

So our passage for today points forward to that lifting up of Christ as a signal for the peoples and it says his resting place shall be glorious or as it could be translated as Dr. Young suggests his resting place is glory for Christ after he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where is he now? He is in glory seated at the Father’s right hand he intercedes for us his resting place is glory and then it goes on to say in verse 11 in that day again we’re speaking of the same it’s speaking of the same messianic day in that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnants that remains of his people from Assyria from Egypt from Pathros from Kush from Elam from Shinar from Hamath and from the coastlands of the sea.

In the Exodus event Yahweh the covenant God of Israel had rescued his people from their slavery in Egypt and as that is described in the Old Testament the Old Testament often speaks of God delivering rescuing his people by his mighty hand and his outstretched arm. Of course God does not, God is a spirit he does not literally have a human body but this imagery of God using his hand extending his arm is a picture of God exercising his power in judgment and in mercy and deliverance. So here in this verse God promises in the messianic age to extend his hand not to punish as he had punished Pharaoh and the Egyptians but to rescue and deliver his people from among the nations and to deliver them from something much worse than physical slavery and oppression but to deliver them from sin and death and hell.

The nations listed here, nations such as Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Kush, Elam, Shinar which I believe is Babylon and Hamath and the coastlands of the sea these are nations that had been Israel’s neighbors and the nations here represented the Gentile enemies of God and his people. Yet here God promises to recover a remnant even from the midst of these nations which had once been hostile to his people. In this context this speaks not only of a return from exile but rather of an ingathering of converts to the Lord even from among the Gentile nations which had once persecuted his people. Again I’ve referenced this passage before but this theme is brought out repeatedly throughout Isaiah and it sort of culminates in chapter 19 if you look at Isaiah 19 verses 23 to 24 we read these words.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Egypt and Assyria were the persecutors of God’s people in Old Testament times and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria a blessing in the midst of the earth whom the Lord of hosts has blessed saying blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel my inheritance. Friends this is so powerful. This shows that our God has always been a missionary God and that he intended for the good news to go into the nations not just to be limited to the physical descendants of Abraham the people of the Jews who would come to believe in him as Messiah but to all the nations of humanity.

The saving work of the Messiah would redeem sinners from all nations and people groups as that heavenly scene that scene of heavenly worship recorded for us in Revelation 5 verses 9 and 10 records it says and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. And then in verse 12 of our passage for today the jealousy of I’m sorry verse 12 he will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth and this is not to teach this is not teaching that the earth is flat this is just poetic language describing the fullness of the earth that goes even beyond the borders of national Israel again friends in the messianic age not only would there be a return from exile but there would be an in gathering of God’s elect from all the nations as Jesus the Messiah the root of Jesse is lifted up among the nations through the proclamation of the gospel and through the missionary labors of Christ’s church.

The good news brothers and sisters the good news dear listeners is that Jesus the Savior was lifted up on the cross to pay the penalty for sin and he was raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him whoever repents and trusts in him alone for salvation from sin might not perish but have everlasting life if the Lord by his spirit and through the word has shown you your sin and your wretchedness and your need for grace and mercy and forgiveness there is good news look to the signal look to the signal that the Lord has raised up the promised Messiah the root of Jesse he has been raised as a sin signal for the peoples including you and me he’s been raised up as the signal the rallying point rally to him run to him trust him rest in him and you will be forgiven as the word of God declares.

I have to say I don’t think I’m going to get through all my points this day we’d be here past lunchtime there’s a lot in this passage so I’m just going to end with the first point today but I do want to speak to something that is related to the truth that our God is indeed a missionary God it’s my understanding brothers and sisters that in recent years one of the concerns among the leadership of our own denomination is the observation that few of our covenant youth today seem to be showing an interest in serving the Lord vocationally in full-time foreign missions but friends there still remain many throughout the world today who have not yet heard a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and there is still a great need for young people especially young men who sense the call to devote their lives to raising a signal to the nations by preaching the gospel to a lost and dying world that is at the heart and center of our missionary calling as the church of Jesus Christ now I don’t want you to misunderstand me and I’m certainly not trying to guilt you or appeal to guilt or merely a sense of duty there are certainly many callings many vocations that God calls his people to and there is certainly nothing wrong nor dishonorable nor unspiritual with serving the Lord in a secular vocation in fact most of God’s people are called to serve the Lord in secular vocations and that’s perfectly honorable if you’re called to be a Christian plumber or an electrician or an engineer even and there is nothing dishonorable about that the Lord calls us we have many different callings and that’s honorable you’re not a second class citizen in God’s church just because you’re not a pastor or a foreign missionary or full-time Christian worker but at the same time I would challenge you and encourage you dear listener let me challenge you today might the Lord be calling you to serve him perhaps in foreign missions overseas or in pastoral ministry or through some other form of full-time Christian service the need is there I want to encourage you who are parents I want to ask you parents would you be willing to give up your covenant child in their adulthood to serve the Lord in ministry or in missions overseas and are you encouraging your children to consider whether God perhaps might be calling them into the mission field I’m not talking about guilting them or pressuring them but have you presented that as an honorable vocation and something that God needs there is a need I mean God doesn’t need anything but God uses means and he raises up and calls people to serve him in missions overseas might God be calling you or calling one of your children beloved let us lift up as the church let us lift up Jesus the promised Messiah as the signal to the nations and let us seek to be faithful to our missionary calling as the church to lift up the Lord so that our neighbors our friends and people throughout the world would come to hear the glad tidings of great joy now of course the mission of the church cannot be carried out effectively without the basic unity of the church and we’ll talk about the unity of the church that is spoken of in this passage on the next Lord’s Day but friends again let us be a good news people we serve a missionary God we are to be a missionary people and we are to support missions with our prayers with our giving and if God should call us with going ourselves let us pray our Lord and Father in heaven sovereign and eternal God we thank you that you have given Jesus the promised Messiah that you’ve raised him up through the gospel as a signal for the nations and that you through the gospel call all peoples everywhere to repent and to believe the good news we pray that you would use us here at Grace Church as part of this mission of your church use us Lord make us faithful to the mission that you’ve called us to and we pray that the glad tidings of great joy would go forth from this place and touch many hearts and many lives we ask these things heavenly father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen as we close our time together let’s rise and we’ll sing together hymn 416 your hand oh God has guided 416

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March 23, 2025
A Shoot, a Branch, and the Spirit

About this sermon

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” When David’s line appears cut down, the Messiah will spring from it, and the Spirit of wisdom, counsel, might, and knowledge will rest on him. The Spirit empowered David and Solomon, but they were far from perfect; Christ receives the Spirit without measure. He will judge the poor with righteousness, not by appearances, and strike the wicked with the rod of his mouth. The wolf will dwell with the lamb, a picture of the peace of his reign, when the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word as we continue our study and consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah. We are today in Isaiah chapter 11. We will consider Isaiah 11, verses one through nine, and you’ll find that beginning on page 683 in your Pew Bibles. I’m gonna begin reading at the end of chapter 10, verse 34, and read through verse 10 of chapter 11, just to kind of fill out the bookends of this passage, but let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. Beginning at chapter 10, verse 34. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from the 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 righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he 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. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray. Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you for raising up prophets and apostles, such as the prophet Isaiah. We thank you that Isaiah was carried along by your spirit to pen these words of holy scripture. And so we would pray that as we give our attention to this portion of your infallible word, that your spirit would apply these truths to our hearts and to our lives and to our congregation today. Open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word, and set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful to your word.

We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. There are sermon outlines available if you’d like to follow along in the foyer. And you’ll notice if you’re following along in your sermon outline, there are six words that I encourage the children to listen for in my sermon today. Branch, rule, peace, messiah, spirit, and anointed. Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our faith in Jesus is precious to us because Jesus is precious to us. But our faith in the Lord Jesus is often attacked today by the forces of secularism and unbelief. Unbelievers within our universities, within the media, within the entertainment industry, sometimes within our own government and within our culture as a whole will often scoff at and mock at and ridicule us for believing things such as that the Bible really is the word of God, that Jesus Christ really is the divine Son of God and the Lord who literally rose from the dead, and that faith in Jesus Christ as one’s savior and Lord is the one and only way to heaven, just as Jesus said it was, and so forth.

We are often attacked for believing these basic Christian truths, Biblical truths, and other central truths of our faith. You know, when you find yourself on the receiving end of constant attack and criticism, even if that attack and criticism is untrue and unjustified, if you find yourself on the receiving end of such attack and criticism, such persistent attack, it can be tempting to start believing that these criticisms and attacks might have some validity. As a result of these almost constant attacks against our Christian faith, we can sometimes find our faith wavering, the result being that our faith in Christ is not always as firm, not always as steadfast, not always as robust as it ought to be. Well, dear ones, if you are looking for ways to strengthen your Christian faith so that you can stand strong in resisting these kinds of attacks from the forces of secularism and unbelief, and so that you can gain a deepened confidence in your savior and in the truth of his gospel, one of the most effective faith-strengthening exercises is to study the messianic prophecies that are revealed by God in the Old Testament scriptures.

Well, I bring up messianic prophecy because what we have today in our passage for today is one such messianic prophecy. In fact, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, the promised Messiah. This passage of God’s word has a great deal to teach us about Jesus, as the theologians would put it. Here in this passage of Isaiah, penned hundreds of years before the birth of our savior, here we have Isaiah’s high Christology, a high doctrine of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this passage has much to teach us about Jesus, the promised Messiah, and about his righteous rule, as well as about the peace that he would bring to this world during the messianic era that would be inaugurated by his coming.

Now, it’s important for us again to understand this passage within its broader context and setting. And you’ll note that our passage for today follows a section of judgment oracles that began back in chapter nine, verse seven, and ran all the way through the end of chapter 10, in verse 34. That’s why I began my reading today at the end of chapter 10, in verse 34. Our passage is immediately preceded by a stern oracle of judgment against the pagan nation of Assyria and its arrogant king. And in that judgment oracle, the Lord compares the Assyrian army to a great forest that he, the Lord, the divine forester, would completely cut down. Go back to chapter 10 and let me read verses 33 and 34, where again, this is an oracle of judgment against the pagan nation of Assyria and against its mighty army.

It says, behold, the Lord God of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power. The great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one. So the Lord has brought his vengeance, his destructive judgment, against the wicked nation of Assyria and its king, and especially against the Assyrian army. But while Yahweh had used Assyria as an ax in his sovereign hand to judge and to chastise his faithless covenant-breaking people, Israel, nevertheless, Assyria itself was to be judged, and like a forest, it was to be completely cut down by the Lord. However, while the Lord was going to cut down the royal line of David, which is compared to a tree that leaves but a stump, while the Lord was going to cut down the royal line of David, like a forester cuts down a tree, in contrast to the forest of Assyria, God would cause new life to arise from the fallen stump of Jesse.

And that’s the point he’s driving at in verse one of our passage for today, verse one. It says, and there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Picture a stump in the ground, the remains of a tree that has been cut down. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Who’s Jesse? What’s that talking about? Well, Jesse was David’s father. And by referring to the stump of Jesse, he’s referring to the royal line of King David. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. This is a messianic prophecy. This is a prophecy that great David’s great, greater son, the Messiah would indeed come. As one commentator explains, the Assyrians all but destroyed Judah, but it was the Babylonian exile that brought the kingdom of Judah to an end in 586 BC.

The Messiah will grow as a shoot from the stump of David’s dynasty. And so as we examine and study our text for this morning, the first thing I wanna draw your attention to is what we learn here about the promised messianic branch. The promised messianic branch. Again, as we look at verses one and two, it says, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. This was imagery and very idyllic and picturesque imagery that Isaiah’s contemporaries would be able to relate to on a very palpable level. And it goes on to say in verse two, 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.

Now, what is this passage teaching us? Well, one of the things this passage teaches us, beloved, is that in regard to his human nature, the Messiah, this promised messianic branch will be from the royal line of David, as I just mentioned. We see that again, especially highlighted in verse one. This imagery reflects the historical situation that would come about with the Babylonian exile. Even though Yahweh, the Lord, Israel’s faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God, even though Yahweh would cut down the tree of David’s royal dynasty, and that took place during the Babylonian exile, and even though there would be no Davidic king ruling on the throne of David for hundreds of years, and so even though it looks like God’s promises of a promised Messiah from the house and lineage of David would fail, even though that’s the case, nevertheless, in God’s amazing providence and plan, even though there would be no Davidic king ruling on the throne for hundreds of years, the Lord would revive the royal tree of David through the promised Messiah, and that Messiah would be, again, of the house and lineage of David.

Who do you think that’s talking about? That’s talking about Jesus. That’s pointing forward to and prophesying Jesus, for Jesus himself, with respect to his human nature, was of the house and lineage of David. And all of this points to the fact that the promised Messiah would indeed be truly, fully human. Now, back in chapter nine, verse six, we learned that the promised Messiah would also be fully and truly God. Let’s go back and let me remind you of what we’ve already learned from chapter nine, verse six. This is a very well-known passage, a messianic prophecy that is often read around Christmas time, and in that verse, it says this of this royal child, this messianic child. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.

He’ll be royalty, he’ll reign, he’ll rule, he’ll be Lord. The government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Now, let me pause. In the Bible, someone’s name was not just a designation or something to mark out one person from another. Your name was supposed to be reflective of your attributes, your character. And what is this child, this son who is given by God, what is his name to be called? Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace, beloved, these are titles of divinity. The Christology, the doctrine of Christ presented by the Spirit’s inspiration in the book of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah’s Christology, his doctrine of Christ recognizes that the promised Messiah will be divine, he will be God, but he will also be human. And his humanity is highlighted by the fact that he would be as a shoot coming forth from the stump of Jesse.

Our passage for today underscores our Lord’s true humanity, that he was indeed to come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse as great David’s greater son. And that’s very important because the only way that Jesus was qualified to be our savior is if he was able to perfectly represent us. And so Jesus was like us in all things except for sin, he was the second Adam, the last Adam, he had no sin, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary, born without a sin nature, and yet he was truly human. He had a human body and a human soul, and it is because he is truly man that he’s able to represent us as his people. And so messianic prophecies such as this one underscore the need for an incarnate Messiah, one who is truly God and truly man, united in one divine person.

And of course, once again, my friends, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ is the only one who is qualified to fulfill prophecies like this one. I appreciate the fact that Jesus is revealed here as truly human as well as truly God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who fulfills these prophecies. But notice next what we learn about the Lord Jesus in verse two. We learn next that the Messiah will be endued or anointed with the Holy Spirit beyond measure. With respect to his human nature, the promised Messiah was to be filled with the Spirit, anointed with the Spirit, endued with the Spirit beyond measure, that he might be equipped to be a perfect, all-sufficient savior of sinners such as us. And it says in verse two, notice the number of times a reference is made in this one verse to the Spirit.

The Spirit of Yahweh, the word Lord in all capital letters that is an indication to English readers that the translators are translating the Hebrew term for the Lord, Yahweh. And Yahweh is God’s covenant God, a covenant name. It points to the Lord as the faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, shall rest upon the Messiah. And notice how this Spirit is described and the kinds of things that he produces. He is described as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. He grants wisdom and understanding so that the Messiah will reign with justice and righteousness. The Spirit of counsel and might, the Proverbs tell us that there is wisdom in many counselors. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. It is the Spirit that produces holy reverence and awe and fear for the Lord.

The repeated reference to the Spirit in this passage emphasizes that the Messiah would be endued and empowered with the fullness of the Spirit. David, of course, was empowered and anointed by the Spirit of God to conquer and to govern wisely. And of course, what did Solomon pray for when the Lord asked him what he wanted? Solomon prayed for wisdom. And Solomon’s wisdom is, pun intended, proverbial, is it not? And we think of other leaders in Israel. We think of prophets and judges and kings who were empowered by the Spirit to perform various tasks that God had called them to perform. But the thing about these Old Testament leaders who were endued by the Spirit to fulfill their tasks, they were only endued in a limited measure. We see, for example, King David empowered by the Spirit as the sweet psalmist of Israel, enabled to pen the inspired psalms, enabled to conquer and to govern as the theocratic king.

And yet, we look at David’s history, his life. Was he a perfect man? Was he a model of moral integrity? Hardly. He was endued with the Spirit, but not beyond measure. And we think the same thing of Solomon. Solomon was empowered by the Spirit to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. He was empowered and strengthened to do mighty works for Israel. And yet, Solomon himself, though he was very wise in governing the theocratic nation, his wisdom did not extend to things such as his relationship with women, for example. How many hundreds of wives did he have? And those marriages were very likely simply political alliances. And some of his pagan wives, sadly, drew his heart away from the Lord and towards idolatry, as you will find if you read his history. So these leaders were endowed in a measure by the Spirit to perform their God-given tasks.

But they were endowed only in a limited measure. But the promised Messiah, the promised Messiah would be endued with the fullness of the Spirit to accomplish his messianic mission and to rule perfectly in peace and in righteousness. While Jesus the Messiah is indeed divine as the anointed one, and that’s what the word Messiah or Christ means. To say that you believe that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ means you believe He is the anointed one, anointed with the Spirit beyond measure. While Jesus the Messiah is indeed divine as the anointed one, He is anointed with the Spirit above measure with respect to His humanity. I think our Westminster Larger Catechism is very helpful and instructive as it summarizes the biblical teaching on this fact. I’d encourage you to turn in the back of your psalter hymnal to page 944.

And let me read to you from Larger Catechism question and answer 42, question and answer 42. Page 944, the question is, why was our mediator called Christ? Christ, by the way, that’s a title, means anointed one. Our mediator was called Christ because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure and so set apart and fully furnished with all authority and ability to execute the offices of prophet, priest and king of His church in the estate both of His humiliation and exaltation, praise be to God. You may say, okay, well, this is interesting, pastor, but where does this speak to me? How does this apply to me? Well, a couple of things. First of all, we learn in this passage that Jesus is indeed great David’s greater son, the promised Messiah who fulfills this and other Old Testament prophecies.

So this ought to strengthen our faith greatly. This was penned hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus, and yet it was fulfilled perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son, the promised Messiah who has come. Dear listener, do you believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah? Do you believe that He is the anointed one of God? Have you received and rested upon Him and Him alone for your salvation from sin? Also, the fact that our Savior was fully equipped by the Spirit for His messianic mission should be a great comfort to us, especially when we struggle with sin and doubt and temptation and discouragement. What this means, beloved, for you and for me and for His church as a whole, is that Christ is fully equipped and fully able to forgive, to renew, and to restore us since He has been anointed and endued and empowered with the Spirit above measure.

Christ is not merely a partial Savior, He is a full Savior, and He is a Savior who is able to meet you where you’re at by sovereign grace. And so if you’ve taken the pathway of the prodigal, if you’re in a far country playing with the pigs, rolling about in the muck, and the Lord has brought you to your senses, and you think, oh, I’m too dirty to return, I’m too far off, remember, Jesus was endued with the Spirit beyond measure. So He is fully equipped to save even the worst of sinners, including me, including you. And so we learn here about the person of the royal branch, the Messiah. We also learn in this passage of the righteous rule of the royal branch. This is your second main point in your outline, the righteous rule of the royal branch.

In verse three it says, 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 righteousness He shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and He 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. Let me have you focus first of all on verse three. Speaking of the promised Messiah, this royal branch, this righteous branch, who is fully endowed with the Spirit, what does it say of Him? His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. Jesus delighted to do His Father’s will.

If you’re born again by the Holy Spirit, the Lord has implanted within your soul a basic delight in the Lord and in the things of the Lord, but you still have that old sin nature hanging around, and so you don’t always delight in the Lord, delight in the things of the Lord as you ought to, but not so Jesus. I’m reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus that are recorded in the Gospel of John, John chapter four, verse 34, where we read these words, it says this. John four, verse 34. It says, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. That was His sustenance. That was His joy. That was His delight. And what does it mean in verses three and four when it says that He shall not judge by what His eyes see or what His ears hear, but instead with righteousness He shall judge the poor and so forth.

What’s He getting at there? What’s Isaiah getting at? Well, Dr. E.J. Young, I think, explains it well. He says of Christ that His judgments will not be based upon the ordinary sources of information open to men, namely what men see and what they hear. For absolute justice, there must be absolute knowledge. One cannot be derived merely by these two regular and ordinary sources of information. In other words, Christ will be able to rule and reign perfectly because He has perfect divine knowledge and perfect divine wisdom. So again, this speaks to the perfection of our Lord’s messianic rule. And then what about this imagery in verse five about righteousness shall be the belt of His waist and faithfulness the belt of His loins. Some have suggested that perhaps the apostle Paul got some of his imagery for the whole armor of God from passages like this one, and that is a possibility.

Well, friends, in the world of the ancient Near East, when men prepared themselves for vigorous action, whether it be some kind of physical labor or for battle, or as Dr. Young argues for a wrestling match with an opponent, a man would tie up his loose garments with a belt. He would prepare himself for actions. And this verse, verse five, points to the fact that the Messiah would not only be equipped to fulfill His messianic mission, but that He would actually gird Himself up and would actually accomplish the mission that the Father had sent Him on. But we also read in this passage at the end of verse four of the Lord striking the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips, He shall kill the wicked. This is pointing to God’s word of judgment.

Beloved, the Messiah’s word of judgment is powerful and efficacious in bringing His righteous wrath against the unrepentant wicked. So these are fearful words, and perhaps Isaiah here, under the Spirit’s guidance, supernatural inspiration is reflecting upon the judgment oracles that he has just recorded in the previous section of Isaiah. But in any case, the point is that God’s word is effective. His word of judgment is effective. It will accomplish that which it goes forth to accomplish. These are not empty words, these words of judgment. These are words that will stick, that will accomplish that which they declare. But friends, if God’s word of judgment is efficacious, we can also be assured that so too is His word of grace in the gospel. That word of grace in the gospel is powerful to save all of those who through grace believe.

I’m reminded of what Paul writes at the beginning of Romans in chapter one, verses 16 and 17. You should be familiar with these words, but think about it in view of the effectiveness, the efficaciousness of the word of God. Paul writes, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. I’m not ashamed of the gospel, why? For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Oh friends, let us rest in His efficacious word of grace given to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us believe by grace that we are saved through Christ, who was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and raised from the dead for our justification that we might receive the gift of everlasting life.

I think another takeaway or lesson from this particular section of our passage verses three through five is that unlike the kings of Israel and Judah, whose reigns were sadly often corrupt and who had best only approximated genuine righteousness and justice, unlike them, the promised Messiah would reign in perfect righteousness, in perfect justice, equity and faithfulness. Praise God that in the end, our Lord Jesus Christ will judge all of His and our enemies. Our Lord Jesus Christ will one day right all wrongs. He will one day vindicate His suffering persecuted people and He will one day put all things to rights. Jesus died not only to redeem us from sin and to save our souls, but He died and rose in order to renew the entire creation, in order to bring about a new creation wherein righteousness dwells.

You’re looking forward to that day. Some of Isaiah’s contemporaries had experienced oppression and had felt in their own lives the effects of unjust rule. And this passage would have been so comforting to them that the Lord through His promised Messiah, this royal branch, will indeed right all wrongs and bring justice to bear in the end. But not only do we learn here of the promised Messiah, the royal branch of David, not only do we learn of the righteousness of His peaceful rule, we also learn of the peace of the messianic age. This is the final point in your outline. The peace of the messianic age. Again, notice this powerful vision, this powerful vision of the natural order. It says the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. Now what’s odd about that? The wolf shall dwell with the lamb?

Under ordinary circumstances, what’s a wolf gonna do with the lamb? Ah, dinner, right? But notice the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. And the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. Again, what does a leopard ordinarily do with a young goat? Leopard’s a predator. The young goat would be its prey. And the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And a little child shall lead them. A helpless little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. And their young shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra. And the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. Again, we have this imagery, this idyllic vision of predator and prey dwelling together in peace.

But then it gets to the point of what Isaiah’s getting at here. And that’s verse nine. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Here, friends, we have an idyllic vision that depicts the peace that would characterize the reign of the Messianic branch, our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace that is to prevail in the Messianic era is represented by the peaceful coexistence of predators and prey. Now, how are we to understand this vision? What is this vision intended to teach us? Well, in other words, are we meant to interpret this in a literalistic manner to mean that, say, in the new heavens and the new earth, God will literally alter the digestive systems of carnivores, which I’m told is quite different from the digestive systems of herbivores.

Is God gonna turn the digestive systems of carnivores into herbivores so that all animals might exist in the new earth, that might exist in the new earth will all be herbivores? Is that what this is meant to teach us? Well, dear ones, while this passage certainly seems to point us to the truth, that the Messiah will indeed bring in a new creation, a radically transformed new creation, we miss the bigger point of this passage if we read into it questions that the passage is not trying to answer. If we read into this passage the idea that it’s meant to teach us about animal diets in the new creation, that’s not the point. Within the broader context of this passage, what have we been learning about? Well, we’ve been reading about predatory foreign nations that threatened the people of God, foreign nations such as the Assyrians.

It’s interesting that sometimes in the scriptures, the fierce gentile adversaries and persecutors of God’s people are depicted as predatory animals. Think of, for example, the visions in the book of Daniel. So friends, since this passage seems to be a vision, we should be cautioned against reading it in an overly literalistic fashion. Instead, it would seem that the main point of this passage is that in the Messianic era, and we’re in that Messianic age, at least in the initial phase of that Messianic age, in this period between our Lord’s first coming and his future glorious second coming, in the Messianic age, our Lord will cause gentile nations, nations that had formerly persecuted and been hostile toward his people, like predatory animals towards their prey. In the Messianic era, Gentiles and Jews will dwell together at peace in the church of the Lord.

Verse 10 would seem to support this view since verse 10 speaks of Gentiles inquiring of the root of Jesse. Look at verse 10. In that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him, shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. This is talking about Gentiles who had formerly persecuted God’s people. Now that the Messiah has come, these Gentiles are now seeking the Messiah and are living at peace with God’s ancient people. So I would suggest to you, brothers and sisters, that this passage is pointing us to the truth that in the new covenant age of the Messiah, both Gentiles and Jews who believe in Jesus will dwell at peace with one another in the church. And this was a major theme in the teachings of the apostle Paul.

Beloved, as we close our time in the word today, remember that in Christ, we have peace with God the Father, and praise God, at least in principle, we have peace with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. And this is true whether we are Jew or Gentile in our background, whether we are male or female, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, if we are in Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us therefore strive to be at peace with one another, to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. As we close our time in the word, I leave us with an application from Ephesians chapter two. Let me read Ephesians two, verses 11 through 22, and then we’ll close our time in prayer. Ephesians chapter two, beginning at verse 11.

Here, Paul is addressing Gentile believers in particular, and he says, therefore, remember, you Gentiles, you who once were pagan Gentiles, far off from the people of God, remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near, how? By the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, that would be you Gentiles, you were far off, and peace to those who were near, that would be the Jews who believe in Jesus. For through him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. The predator and the prey abide together in the one body of Christ at peace. We were once, brothers and sisters, we were once far off, most of us I imagine are from Gentile stock, this is fulfilled in us today.

We’ve been brought near through the gospel, we’ve been brought near, and we belong because of Christ. Praise be to God. Let us rejoice in the royal branch of David, our promised Messiah Jesus, amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your amazing grace given to us in Christ. We thank you that you have indeed fulfilled your purposes in redemptive history, that you have sent the Messiah, Jesus your son, our savior, the shoot from the stump of Jesse, and that he has come and that his peaceful reign is over all. We pray, Lord, that his reign might become more and more evident in our hearts and lives and in our congregation, and we pray that you would hasten the day when Jesus will come again in glory to set up his perfect reign, indeed to consummate his kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

We pray these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s rise and sing as our closing psalm number.

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 23, 2025
A Remnant Shall Return

About this sermon

Isaiah promises that a remnant of Israel will return to the mighty God and no longer lean on Assyria, the one who struck them. God has decreed destruction, overflowing with righteousness, for God is holy and just and will not ignore the sin of his unfaithful people. Yet he tells those in Zion not to fear Assyria, for in a little while his anger will turn against it. Isaiah traces the Assyrian army’s advance toward Jerusalem, town by town, until the Lord lops off its boughs at the city’s gates. He saves his remnant by grace.

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Sermon transcript

We continue our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah we are this morning in Isaiah chapter 10 and my sermon text is verses 20 through 34 Isaiah chapter 10 verses 20 through 34 and you’ll find that beginning on page 682 in your pew bibles. Dear friends this is the word of God hear it with reverence and awe. In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them but will lean on the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth. A remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God for though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness for the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of all the earth therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts all my people who dwell in Zion be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did for in a very little while my fury will come to an end and my anger will be directed to their destruction and the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb and his staff will be over the sea and he will lift it up as he did in Egypt and in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.

He has come to Ayathe he has passed through Migron at Micmash he stores his baggage they have crossed over the pass at Giba they lodge for the night Rehma trembles Giba of Saul has fled cry aloud oh daughter of Galim give attention Elisha oh poor Anathoth Madmena is in flight the inhabitants of Gabim flee for safety this very day he will halt at knob he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion the hill of Jerusalem behold the Lord God of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power the great in height will be hewn down and the lofty will be brought low he will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God endures forever please join me in prayer almighty and most merciful God gracious Heavenly Father once again we pray that you would give us assistance by your Holy Spirit to understand this portion of your word and we ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I might only declare that which is faithful and true to your word for the upbuilding of your people for the salvation of the lost and for the glorification of your holy name hear us Lord and open our minds to behold wondrous things from your word we pray in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen you may be seated the title of my sermon this morning is a remnant shall return and there’s only three key words that the children can be listening for in my sermon today and those are the words remnants returning and retribution well dear ones if you’ve been following the news lately you know that in recent weeks the terrorist organization Hamas has released a number of Israeli hostages many of them young women who had been held in captivity by Hamas for over a year imagine that we can only imagine the treatment these hostages likely received at the hands of their terrorist captors and we can only imagine the dark psychological trauma that they must have endured as they lived through long dark days of uncertainty and gloom not knowing whether or not they would survive not knowing whether or not they would ever be freed not knowing whether or not they would ever see their loved ones again I watched a few videos on the internet featuring some of these former hostages being reunited with their loved ones and as you can imagine the raw emotion that comes through as they finally get to embrace their loved ones their mother their father their sister their boyfriend their wife the raw emotion that shines through is almost indescribable one gets the sense that for these former hostages being freed and reunited with their loved ones is like finally waking up from a long dark nightmare into a bright sunny day of warmth of welcome and of love finally emerging from a dark time tears of joy stream down their faces as they step into what hopefully is for them a much brighter time ahead in their lives well dear ones I bring up this illustration to plant within your mind the idea of coming out of a time of deep darkness into a time of light and hope and joy and dear ones on the level of God’s dealings with his covenant people our passage represents such a movement our passage for this Lord’s Day morning presents us with a similar movement a movement from the darkness and the doom and the gloom of God’s judgment into the bright light of God’s mercy and forgiveness the bright light of divine hope in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning it is as if the thick darkness of doom and gloom is pierced and a light of hope finally breaks through and all of this is by God’s sovereign unmerited grace a sovereign unmerited grace which moves the hearts of a remnant to return in repentance to Yahweh their God and to truly lean by faith upon him who is the holy one of Israel to lean upon him in truth as we’re told in verse 20 in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them that would be on the king of Assyria and the Assyrian forces but will lean on the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth now friends our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is recorded after a section of judgment oracles a section of judgment oracles that goes from basically chapter 9 verse 8 through chapter 10 verse 19 and in these judgment oracles Yahweh the Lord the faithful covenant-making covenant-keeping God of Israel had pronounced his righteous judgment against his unfaithful covenant-breaking people Israel and then also he had pronounced his judgment against his own instrument of judgment against Israel namely the wicked Assyrians and their arrogant king probably King Sennacherib but now after this section of judgment oracles with all of the doom and gloom that is communicated in those sections now a section of Isaiah is begun which proclaims hope and restoration for God’s people the restoration of a remnant that will be in fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Abraham and ultimately in connection with the promised Messiah the one who is called the mighty God as it says in verse 21 a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob and who will they return to they will return to the mighty God now what’s so significant about that title for God well because that’s a messianic title go back to chapter 9 verse 6 very familiar passage a messianic prophecy where it says for to us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called what wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace the remnant will return to the mighty God the messianic mighty God this is a messianic prophecy brothers and sisters in Christ we have brothers and sisters in this passage of God’s Word a strong emphasis upon what the scholars call Isaiah’s remnant theology and in the words of dr.

EJ young here grace breaks through the promises of God have not failed you see Isaiah’s contemporaries after hearing the Lord pronounced judgment against the unfaithful the covenant breaking in their midst might have thought oh there’s only doom and gloom for us God’s promises have failed but no God’s promises have not failed for a remnant shall return to the mighty God the God of Israel while God will indeed bring his holy and righteous judgment down upon his unfaithful covenant breaking people those who are really hypocrites and unbelievers amongst his visible covenant community God’s judgment will indeed come upon them nevertheless the Lord would not utterly destroy the people who are called by his holy name on the contrary through his sovereign grace he would preserve a chosen remnant a remnant who unlike King Ahaz would no longer rely on the power of the pagan Assyrian who is described in verse 20 as him who struck them but instead would lean on the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth and so we consider first of all friends the remnant as we look at go through verses 20 through 27 we consider the remnant now it’s interesting this remnant language that Isaiah uses in verse 20 because that’s what connects it with the passage that immediately precedes it in back in verse 19 another remnant had been mentioned but the remnant of the Assyrians that God would destroy it says in verse 19 the remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down in verse 19 at the end of a judgment oracle against Assyria the remnant language is used to make the point that the mighty army of the Assyrians known for their strength known for their cruelty known for their skill in defeating their enemies that strength which is compared to a great forest will be reduced to an almost nothing it will be reduced to a remnant of trees that are so few that a child can write them down and so when applied to Assyria wicked pagan Assyria who had viciously attacked God’s people and had intended evil and violence against the people of God when applied to Assyria the remnant language highlights the devastation of God’s judgment against that wicked nation and its king but in verse 20 this same remnant language indicates God’s preservation and the salvation of his people while judgment begins with the house of the Lord as we’re told in the scriptures it doesn’t end there judgment begins with the house of the Lord leading to the destruction of the wicked and unbelieving amongst God’s visible professed people but nevertheless God will not allow his people to be entirely fully snuffed out God has always and indeed he will always preserve a faithful remnant of his true people in all ages of redemptive history and so there will always be a true visible church in every age all the way until the coming of Christ at the end of this present age in the in line with this biblical teaching on the remnant the our Westminster confession of faith puts it well when it states in chapter 25 section 5 which is the chapter on the church it says this the purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ but synagogues of Satan but then listen to what it says nevertheless there shall be always a church on earth to worship God according to his will and why is that the case why will there always be a church a true church of Christ on earth to worship God according to his will well of course the reason for this is that God himself will always preserve a faithful remnant for the praise of his glorious grace when things look the darkest when it looks like God’s people are going to just be completely annihilated and destroyed God in mercy intervenes and he preserves his people now let’s go through these verses and let’s begin with verse 20 and how does this this prophecy of hope of renewed It begins with the words in that day in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob in other words those who have survived of the chastisement and punishment of the Lord against his unfaithful people in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them as King Ahaz wicked King Ahaz had leaned upon Assyria and its forces for help and assistance instead of leaning on Yahweh the faithful covenant God of Israel in that day they will no more lean on him who struck them the Assyrians whom they relied upon had actually struck them and had threatened them but instead in that day they will lean on the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth they won’t just pretend anymore to lean on to trust him to rely upon the Lord they’ll actually return to the Lord and lean upon him but when when is in that day what’s that referring to well this is what the theologians call eschatological language this is language that points us forward to a future time of redemptive history now I believe that as we compare scripture with scripture that there was an initial fulfillment of this in the return of the Jews from their exile in Babylon they did return to Jerusalem they did rebuild eventually rebuild the temple after the exile and so forth so there that was an initial fulfillment of this promised remnant returning to the land but nevertheless because this is a messianic prophecy that points us forward to the new covenant age the messianic age the age that was introduced by Jesus of Nazareth our Lord and Savior when he came to this earth and accomplished our redemption because of that this is fulfilled ultimately in Christ and in the new covenant era and verse 21 makes that clear as it clarifies in verse 21 a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob and who will they return to again they will return to the mighty God and when you compare that verse with chapter 9 verse 6 where the Messiah the child to be born the son to be given is described by the title mighty God everlasting father prince of peace a remnant will return it’s interesting that’s actually the name of one of Isaiah’s sons one of his sons was named Shiar Jashub and Shiar Jashub guess what that means it means a remnant shall return the Lord had instructed Isaiah to give his son a symbolic name a prophetic name and here Isaiah’s son’s name Shiar Jashub symbolized what is taught in this passage a remnant shall indeed return this is again a messianic title as I pointed out in the words of Dr.

Young in returning to the mighty God the remnant will return to God as manifested in a descendant of David the promised Messiah was to be of the house and lineage of King David right and so this is pointing forward to this promised son of David great David’s greater son namely the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and the point here that we learn from this is that you can only return to the Lord if you return to him in the person of Christ it is only through faith in Christ that you truly turn to or return to the Lord and so humanity has fallen away from the Lord and Adam we have turned aside from the Lord we’ve gone our own way and many folks think that well I’ll get back to God but I’ll choose my own path I’ll choose my own way I’ll choose the way of Christ consciousness sort of the New Age way or I’ll choose the way of Islam or the way of Judaism the Bible says if you have not the son you have not the father those who reject the son reject the father it is only those who have the son who have the father so we return to God into a right relationship with God by faith in the promised Messiah now in old testament times that’s how God’s people were saved too it’s not like in the Old Testament they were saved by works by works of the law but now in the New Testament were saved by grace through faith in Christ no our Old Testament brothers and sisters they too were saved by faith in the promised Messiah they just didn’t know his name yet but now that he has come we know his name his name is Jesus and we are saved by returning to him by returning and resting upon him and him alone for our salvation and so again we see the light bursting through the darkness of judgment and beginning to shine as we’re told in verse 21 a remnant shall return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God and then it goes on to say in verses 22 and 23 for though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea only a remnant of them will return destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness in other words God will bring his righteous judgment against the unfaithful and unrepentant among his professed people that has been decreed and it will happen God is not a god of sloppy agape he’s not a god that ignores that ignores justice he is a god of justice and holiness but he’s also a god of mercy and grace destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness for the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of all the earth judgment will come now he mentions that Israel is as the sand of the sea where do you find that language what does that remind you of well it ought to remind you of God’s covenant promise to Abraham God had promised Abraham the patriarch he had covenanted with Abraham that Abraham’s would descendants would be as the sand of the sea for multitude for example turn back to Genesis 13 verse 16 and we see here how Isaiah alludes to a number of different events and figures and promises in earlier redemptive history in Genesis chapter 13 verse 16 we read these words it says I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth the Lord is speaking to Abraham he says I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth your offspring also can be counted and then skip ahead to Genesis chapter 22 verse 17 where this promise is reaffirmed in verse 17 the Lord says I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore and your offspring shall pass the gate or possess rather the gate of his enemies so friends here this again reminds us of God’s covenant promises and the promised remnant that will return it may seem to contradict this covenant promise that God made to Abraham but it is through the remnant that God will fulfill his covenant promises to Abraham we need to remember as we’re taught in the New Testament that the true descendants of Abraham the true seed of Abraham are those who share Abraham’s faith so whether you have Abraham’s blood and genetics coursing through your body whether you are a physical descendant of Abraham or whether you are of Gentile stock doesn’t matter salvation has never been by race or ethnicity it’s always been by grace alone so if you are a Gentile but Jesus is your Savior and you trust in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob then you are a true son or daughter of Abraham and so this the remnant promise is ultimately fulfilled in Christ and in his church and thus it is a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham it’s also interesting to note that verses 22 and 23 are quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 9 verse 27 and 28 where Paul speaks of the remnant within the context of teaching about the doctrine of election that passage was read earlier in the service and then it goes on to say in verses 24 and following therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts oh my people who dwell in Zion be not afraid of the Assyrians oh the Assyrians were a very fearful people if you read the history and read about how the Assyrians treated their enemies and their captives they were known for their brutality their cruelty they were very strong very well trained they were numerous and mighty the Assyrian the Assyrian army was was a fearful sight and if you knew that the Assyrians were coming to your neighborhood you would tremble with fear but here the Lord God of hosts and notice the Lord is called the God of hosts he is Yahweh of hosts he is the God of the armies of heaven there are more hosts on the Lord’s side than on Assyria’s side he says therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts oh my people you who dwell in Zion be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did even that kind of calls to mind doesn’t it what happened to the Egyptians remember the Egyptians had enslaved the people of God cruelly enslaved them and yet the Egyptians and their so-called gods were no match for Yahweh the true and living God and so he’s reminding them remember what God has done in the past how he delivered from the Egyptians and then he goes on to say in verse 25 for in a very little while my fury will come to an end my fury against my sinning people will come to an end and my anger will be directed to there to the Assyrians destruction the Lord’s gonna take his focus off of punishing and chastising his faithless people and he’s gonna put the focus of his righteous wrath and anger against the Assyrians who with cruelty and violence sought to destroy the people of God and then it goes on to say and the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb this rock of Oreb recalls the defeat of the Midianites under the Israelite judge Gideon so again Isaiah is alluding to numerous events in past redemptive history where the Lord had shown himself faithful as the deliverer of his people and his staff will be over the sea and he will lift it as he did in Egypt and what does that remind you of this idea of lifting a staff over Egypt well let me give you a clue turn to Exodus 14 verse 16 Exodus chapter 14 verse 16 it says this the Lord said to Moses why do you cry to me tell the people of Israel to go forward lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground remember the scene the people of Israel were by the Red Sea the Egyptians were hot on their heels Moses lifted up his staff and the Lord split the sea and the people went through the Red Sea on dry ground but when the Egyptians tried to follow them foolishly Moses again lifted up his staff and the Lord closed the sea over the Egyptians who pursued them so again the Lord is the Lord is assuring his people that brighter days are ahead that deliverance is coming now what are some of the takeaways some of the lessons that we can learn from what we’ve considered so far well first of all beloved understand we serve a God who is faithful in keeping his covenant promises and one of the ways that he does that is by preserving a faithful remnant dear listener if Jesus Christ is your Savior if you have trusted in Christ as he is offered to you in the gospel then rejoice for you are part of that remnant God in his mercy has given you a new heart a heart that is open to Christ a heart that receives and rests upon him so praise God he who began a good work in you will carry it through to completion another lesson we learn of the many lessons we can learn from this passage is that the Assyrian army was indeed mighty and powerful and fearful but they were no match they were no match for the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they were no match for the heavenly hosts that attend his heavenly throne and likewise my friends we read in the scriptures that Satan and his demonic hordes are very powerful very intelligent very mighty but though they are mighty they will never be able to fully destroy God’s church on earth they’re mighty they can do much harm but they are not able to destroy God’s church for they are no match for the mighty God that is to say our resurrected and reigning Messiah and Lord Jesus Christ remember the scriptures tell us he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world that doesn’t mean that we that we don’t take Satan seriously he prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour but nevertheless as we take shelter in Christ under the shelter of his blood and righteousness we are preserved and the Lord will protect us so we read of this remnant that God in sovereign mercy and grace preserves but we also learn in this passage about the returning the the remnants language highlights the sovereignty of God in preserving and saving his people and while this passage underscores God’s sovereignty in preserving a chosen remnant notice that this remnant is described as a remnant that does something and what does the remnant do according to this passage again look at verse 21 what does it say a remnant will do what a remnant will return this is speaking of true conversion true penitence faith in the Lord the remnant returns to the Lord that is their characteristic that is what they do God’s sovereignty and so in the salvation of sinners is certainly highlighted by the remnant theme but at the same time how does this chosen remnant show itself to be a remnant by returning to the mighty God the Lord Jesus Christ a remnant will return notice again here the language of returning which indicates repentance and conversion and also the language of leaning upon the Lord again verse 20 in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer will no more lean on him who struck them on the king of Assyria but will lean on the Lord or rely on the Lord that’s describing faith personal saving faith in the Lord a remnant will return and so forth for though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea only a remnant of them will return dear friends yes God is absolutely sovereign in our salvation and that point is highlighted by the remnant language and it means that we cannot boast of our own works or even our own will if you believe in Christ and your neighbor doesn’t it’s not because you make better choices or you’re smarter than your neighbor or that you’re better or more virtuous than your neighbor it means that God has simply had mercy upon you so don’t pat yourself on the back for your faith but nevertheless at the same time man is totally responsible to return to the Lord in true faith and repentance Martin Luther was correct when he said that the Christian life is a life of ongoing repentance and faith yes there is an initial conversion where you first repent and believe and in Christ but that initial repentance you know do you repent once and then stop repenting no I hope not you don’t you don’t arrive at initial conversion no that’s just the beginning of a lifetime of ongoing daily renewed repentance and faith and if that describes your life you say pastor my Christian life is a battle I’m always struggling against sin I’m always having to repent every day having to repent and go back to the Lord well guess what that means you are a returning one that’s characteristic of a true Christian that means you’re part of the remnant for you would not engage in daily earnest repentance and faith unless the Lord had sovereignly worked his grace in your heart and in your life so yes ultimately it is only because of God’s unconditional unmerited grace that the remnant returns but nevertheless they return God doesn’t return for them they return dear listener have you returned to the Lord maybe if you’re you’re listening you’re out there today listening or you’re listening through the internet whatever the case may be perhaps you have strayed from the Lord perhaps you have gone into a far country like the prodigal you’ve gone into the far country of sin and rebellion and unbelief will you return to the Lord to the mighty God the messianic King you say oh I’ve I’ve gone too far to turn back while there’s life there’s hope may you turn back to the Lord may the Lord draw you back turn to the Lord he will receive you in mercy look to Christ who was crucified for sinners for prodigals like me and like you turn to Christ and rest in him for your salvation so we’ve seen the remnant we’ve seen the returning and finally very briefly we consider the retribution which is again highlighted in verses 24 through 34 even though this passage throbs with gospel hope and points to the return and restoration of God’s people it also comforts God’s people by assuring them that their enemies who hated them who sought their destruction would experience the righteous and holy retribution and judgment of the Lord for their wickedness in verses 24 through 27 we see God’s righteous fury against his faithless people would indeed come to an end as we’ve already considered and his wrath would be redirected toward the Assyrians who violently persecuted his people and then in verse 28 we we begin a an interesting section a visionary section which pictures the Assyrian forces inching closer and closer to Jerusalem the holy city the place where the temple of the Lord was the place where God’s special presence dwelt as he as they inch closer and closer and if you were to get out of and look at these various villages and towns or cities on the map you would see that this depicts the Assyrian forces coming down from the north descending upon Jerusalem AF is the furthest north and then Migran’s a little closer Miqmash where they store their baggage is even closer then there’s Giba and and then there’s Galim and Lysha and Anathoth and then Nob I believe that some have suggested that Nob which was a priestly city was that you could even see Jerusalem in the distance from Nob but the picture is that the forces of Assyria these fearful forces are inching closer and closer the threat is is getting closer and closer to Jerusalem from a human point of view it seems like Jerusalem is most certainly doomed to perish at the hands of the Assyrians but wait wait though the Assyrian King in verse 20 32 we are told that he will shake his fist at the Mount of the daughter of Zion the hill of Jerusalem he and his forces will not prevail why they’re so close why will they not prevail well look again at verses 33 and 34 behold that means pay attention kids behold the Lord God of hosts again Isaiah reminds them that the God is the God of the armies of heaven he is the Lord God of hosts will lock the boughs with terrifying power the great in height will be hewn down and the lofty will be brought low God will bring down the proud Assyrian army he will bring them down verse 34 he will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one versus once again Assyria is compared to a forest that the Lord will cut down with an axe again look at verse 18 and 19 go back to verses 18 and 19 it says the glory of his force that’s speaking of the forces of Assyria the glory of his forest and of his fruitful and the Lord will destroy both soul and body and it will be as when a sick man wastes away the remnant of the trees of his force will be so few that a child can write them down and then compare that with verses 33 and 34 where it says that the Lord God of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power the great in height will be hewn down and so forth again we notice God returns in this passage to the imagery of he’s the forester he’s cutting down the forest of Assyria with his axe and it’s interesting isn’t it Assyria and its king boasted like an axe that boasted itself against the Lord who had decided to chop with it that very axe will be cut down by the axe of the Lord go back to verse 15 where again God confronts the arrogance of the Assyrian King and says shall the axe boast over him who hews with it or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it as if a rod should wield him who lifts it or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood powerful imagery isn’t it here is Assyria this axe that was cutting down mighty nations boasting in its own power its own strength and the Lord says you’re an axe that I hew shall the axe boast against the one who wields it but the Lord says in verses 33 and 34 that he’s going to lock down this forest where was this fulfilled how was this fulfilled was it fulfilled the answer is not certainly it was I suggest that we read a probable fulfillment of this prophecy later on in Isaiah turn with me if you would to Isaiah 37 and let me just read verses 33 to 38 Isaiah 37 verses 33 to 38 and here King Sennacherib the king of Assyria and his forces threaten Israel they threaten Jerusalem but this is what it says beginning in verse 33 of chapter 37 therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria he shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it by the way that he came by the same he shall return and he shall not come into this city declares the Lord for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David now how did the Lord do this how did he fulfill this promise look at the following verses beginning verse 38 and the angel of the Lord went out and again the Assyrians had a huge force that they were bringing to bear against Jerusalem but the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians and when people rose early in the morning there were some survivors to see the wreckage when people arose early in the morning behold they were all there were all dead bodies some historians have suggested that there was a great plague of sickness that went through the Assyrian camp how does the king of Assyria respond to that look at verse 37 then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh probably departed in shame but that was not the end of the story verse 38 and as he was worshiping in the house of Nisrock his god Adramelech and Sherezer his sons struck him down with the sword and after they escaped into the land of Ararat Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place the Lord had said he would chop down the forest the army of the Assyrians and he most certainly did and not only that he brought his holy judgment against this arrogant king of Assyria Sennacherib final thoughts first of all we learned brothers and sisters that God is just and righteous in his judgments his judgments are always overflowing with righteousness as we’re told in verse 22 let us therefore reverence him as the righteous judge of all the earth and let us seek opportunities to warn the rebellious to flee from his wrath another lesson we learn is that our sovereign omnipotent God is able to humble the proud even as he is able to exalt the humble let us not be like the proud Assyrians boasting in themselves exalting themselves above the Lord instead let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God trusting in his saving mercy trusting that he will exalt us in due time amen let us pray heavenly father we thank you and praise you that you are holy and righteous and just that you will vindicate your suffering people and bring your righteous judgments against the wicked who refused to repent but we thank you also Lord God that you are merciful and kind even to undeserving sinners such as us we thank you heavenly father that you sent your son Jesus our Messiah to save us from our sins and we ask Lord that you would help us to live lives of daily returning unto you and leaning upon you and you alone we pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said let’s close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together 427 I sought the Lord and afterward I knew 427

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February 16, 2025
Judgment against the Rod of God’s Anger

About this sermon

The Lord calls Assyria “the rod of my anger,” sent against a godless nation to take spoil. But Assyria does not see it that way; it boasts that its own strength conquered the nations and plans to destroy many more. “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it?” God uses even the wicked to accomplish his purposes, as he did when he delivered up Christ by his definite plan and lawless men crucified him, yet the instruments remain accountable. The Light of Israel will become a fire and consume Assyria’s arrogant might.

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Sermon transcript

Open your copy of God’s word as we continue our study and consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah we are in Isaiah chapter 10 and we will consider verses 5 through 19 this section of Isaiah chapter 10 and you’ll find that on page 682 in your view Bible if you’d like to follow along in your view Bible. Dear friends this is the word of God, hear it with reverence and awe. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury. Against the godless nation I send him and against the people of my wrath I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend and his heart does not so think but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few.

For he says, are not my commanders all kings? Is not Calno like Harkomish? Is not Hameth like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images? When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, I remove the boundaries of peoples and plunder their treasures like a bull I bring down loads who sit on thrones.

My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped. Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it? Or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame and it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day. The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy both soul and body and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

The remnants of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. 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 gracious Lord and Father in heaven we thank you and praise you for the grace of your spirit that spirit who has breathed out the scriptures. We pray oh Lord that by your spirit you would illuminate our minds and open our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word this morning. We ask that you would help us to hear and receive that which the Spirit is speaking in this portion of your God breathed in errant infallible word and we would once again ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I your unworthy servant may only speak forth that which is clear that which is faithful to your word.

We pray all these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen. Title of my sermon this morning is judgment against the rod of God’s anger and there are a number of key words that you can be listening for in my sermon today the words providence rod anger arrogance judgment and mercy and there are sermon outlines in the foyer that you can use to follow along with my sermon today. Well my dear friends I’m going to ask you a question how often in your daily conversation do you find yourself using the word providence? Is that a common word that you employ in your daily conversations with your husband your wife co-workers your friends and so forth? Well my suspicion is that you probably don’t use that term all too often at least not in your everyday conversations at least outside of church contexts and when you hear the term providence what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

I suspect that if I were to ask that question to the average man or woman on the street today perhaps many would mention the city of providence you know the capital city of the state of Rhode Island but they probably would not be thinking of the theological term providence. Now I bring all of this up my friends because the word providence which is such an important and wonderful term in our theological vocabulary this term is very rarely used today and I think it’s very rarely used even among professing by the believing Christians and this is really the shangier ones because the word providence highlights a significant biblical truth about the way God rules and governs not only the created material universe but also the way that the Lord sovereignly rules and governs the nations and the peoples of humanity.

It is a term that pulsates with theological depth and doctrinal richness. It is a term that we would do well to recover and recapture in our common Christian vocabulary. Now in terms of the meaning of providence I think our shorter catechism defines it very well does a wonderful it offers a wonderful Bible-based definition of God’s works of providence in answer to question number 11. I know some of you know the answer to that question. The question of course is what are God’s works of providence and the Bible-based answer to that question is God’s works of providence are his most holy wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. Think about the breadth and the depth of that answer. But this definition raises some thorny questions. For example if as our catechism in line with scripture teaches if in his providence God preserves and governs all of his creatures and all of their actions does this include the sinful and wicked actions of evil men and of godless pagan nations including men and nations that seek to persecute and harm God’s professed people.

Now let’s be clear God’s word the Bible makes it abundantly clear that God is neither the author nor approver of sin. The Bible also clearly teaches that man is morally responsible for his sin and his wicked actions. But if this is the case if it is the case that man is responsible for his action how do we harmonize the absolute righteousness and goodness of God and the reality of his total sovereignty and his all-embracing providence how do we harmonize those biblical truths with the equally biblical truths that man has genuine human responsibility for God and exercises free moral agency. Well dear ones there are many ways to answer that question and while many things could be said in responding to these deep and profound questions indeed these mysteries our passage for this Lord’s Day morning helps to shed some very bright lights on the way God exercises his sovereign providence over wicked men and over wicked nations and so let us now turn our attention to this profound passage of God’s Holy Word found in Isaiah 10 verses 5 through 19.

And let me again remind us of the context of this passage. This passage we find this passage within a broader section of judgment oracles and the previous section that we considered a couple Lord’s Days ago in chapter 9 verse 8 through chapter 10 verse 4 is also an oracle of judgment and it’s an oracle of judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel is sometimes designated as Ephraim and northern Israel’s capital city Samaria. That particular judgment oracle anticipates the decisive judgment that God would bring against the northern kingdom in the destruction and the exile that he visited upon Samaria and the northern kingdom by the Assyrian Empire and that destruction and exile took place around 722 BC. The Lord Yahweh you see had used Assyria as the rod of his wrath the rod of his anger against faithless covenant-breaking Israel.

But in our passage for today the Lord turns his attention from the judgment that he is pouring out upon the northern kingdom through through Assyria and now he turns our attention to Assyria itself and Assyria is here described as God’s rod and that brings me to my first point. Let’s first of all consider Assyria as the rod of God’s anger. Assyria as the rod of God’s anger. Again I direct your attention first of all to verses five and six. In verse five the Holy Spirit through Isaiah says woe, woe to Assyria. What is that term woe? It’s a very emotive term. What does it convey? It is a judgment term. It is a term of curse. God pronounces a curse and this term shows us once again that we have here another judgment oracle. So this continues the judgment theme of this overall section of Isaiah and notice how the Lord describes Assyria.

Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury. Against the godless nation I send him and against the people of my wrath I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Again Assyria is described as God’s rod, his staff. Assyria you see was an instrument in the hand of Yahweh the Lord to strike his faithless people in judgment and chastisement. That’s the point that the Lord is making. Though the Assyrians were wicked and godless people and that comes out very clearly in our passage for today, nevertheless God uses them to judge and chastise his faithless people. And he in verse six he says that Assyria is sent against a godless nation. Against a godless nation I send him and against the people of my wrath.

So this godless nation is described as the people of my wrath. Who’s he talking about there? Well he’s talking there about Israel. These descriptions are referring not to a pagan idol worshipping nation but well although Israel at the time they were they had fallen away from the Lord and had broken his covenant and were indeed going after idols worshipping multiple idols and not just worshipping the Lord. Nevertheless they were still his professed covenant people and yet God describes them as a godless nation the people of my wrath. These descriptions are referring to God’s faithless covenant-breaking unbelieving people. People who should have known better. It’s not referring to Gentile methodologists. So Assyria again would be God’s instrument of judgment to plunder and destroy the faithless among Israel. Let’s sit down to verse 15. We get further insight into Assyria’s role here.

And notice how God describes Assyria here. He says, shall the axe boast over him who hews with it or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it as if a rod should wield him who lifts it or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood. Here the Lord compares Assyria and its king to an axe, a saw, a rod, and a staff. In other words, instruments wielded by the Lord’s sovereign hand to accomplish his purposes. In this case, his purposes of judgment and chest ties. This passage underscores the truth, my friends, of Yahweh’s absolute sovereignty over all the nations of mankind. Not merely over his covenant nation, Israel, but over pagan idol-worshipping nations which do not acknowledge him as the one true and living God and which treat his people with hostility as their enemies.

This passage also gives us some insight into the mysterious providence of God. A God who sometimes chooses to use the wicked to judge the wicked. This is an important biblical principle, friends. If you’re going to understand the mysterious ways of God with man, God is so awesome and powerful and glorious and mysterious in his works of providence that he’s able to use the wicked to judge the wicked. And we see him doing that here. Our sovereign God is able to use even the wicked to accomplish his ultimately good purpose. As the saying goes, even Satan is God’s Satan. Not that God is to be blamed for Satan’s evil or wickedness, but that even Satan can only do his work by the sovereign permission of God. You see that, for example, in the book of Job.

Here the Lord is shown to use the wicked empire of Assyria and its arrogant godless king, probably sin king Sennacherib, as his instruments to punish and chasten his wicked, faithless, covenant-breaking people. And yet, and yet, as we will see, while God uses godless Assyria as his rod to smite his sinning people, because of the pride and evil motivations of Assyria and her king, in the end, God will bring judgment even against the rod of his anger. He will use Assyria as his rod of judgment and chastisement against his faithless people, but then he will turn around and turn his judgment focus upon Assyria itself, even though Assyria had been used by God as the rod of his anger. Beloved, in his sovereign providence, our great and awesome God is able to rule and to overrule the wickedness of man, to rule it in such a way that, and overrule it in such a way that it works towards his ultimately good purpose.

We see that in numerous instances in the scriptures. For example, consider the situation with the patriarch Joseph. Remember Joseph? Sold by his brothers out of their envy, their evil, wicked envy. They sell him into slavery, into Egypt, and yet God uses their evil to bring him, to bring Joseph to Egypt, and eventually to raise him up to be a savior figure, as God uses Joseph to save that region from the famine that afflicted them at that time. Turn, for example, to Genesis chapter 50, and let me just read verses 15 through 21. Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. After Jacob, Joseph’s father passes away, Joseph’s brothers, who are now in Egypt, they’re worried that, oh boy, we’re in trouble. Joseph’s gonna remember the evil that we did to him, and he’s gonna take vengeance upon us.

So we read this. It says, when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. They acknowledged their evil. God has worked repentance and tenderness in their hearts for all the wickedness they hid. But it goes on to say, so they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. How does Joseph react? You don’t deserve forgiveness. After what you did to me, you stole my life away from me. You stole me in Egypt. That’s not how Joseph responds.

It says, Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph, notice what Joseph says here. Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? He acknowledges that though you did evil against me, this was all part of God’s sovereign plan. Am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Notice what he says again in verse 20. As for you, you meant evil. You meant for evil.

What they did was indeed vile and evil. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God sovereignly overruled their evil for not only Joseph’s, but many people’s ultimate good. Praise be to God. But of course, the ultimate illustration of God using evil men to accomplish a higher good is nothing less than the murder, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The betrayal and murder of Jesus was the worst evil, the worst sin that has ever been committed, and yet God used that for the redemption of his people. Turn with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 2. Let me read verses 22 to 24 there. This is Peter’s Pentecost sermon, and in the midst of declaring the gospel on the day of Pentecost to those who had gathered round, he says this, he says, Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. There in verse 23, you have in one verse the affirmation of God’s absolute sovereignty and his overruling providence on the one hand, and the complete moral accountability and responsibility of those who crucified Jesus. He says, Jesus was delivered up, he was delivered up to be crucified, why? Well, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. God decreed that the Messiah Jesus would be crucified, crucified by the hands of lawless men.

He says, you crucified him by the hands of lawless men. What they did in crucifying him was evil, it was wicked, it was lawless, and they are held accountable for it, and yet God had planned to overrule their evil for the salvation, the redemption of God’s elect. Beloved, in light of all of this, let us trust in the wisdom of God’s ways, even if we don’t fully understand them, and let us realize that while evil may prevail, and they seem to have the upper hand, the only reason that evil is permitted to occur is because God has an ultimately good purpose for it, and he will ultimately direct it and use it in the end for his ultimate glory and for the ultimate good of his people, and that’s why the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11 sets the context for us understanding or praising him, praising the Lord for his wisdom.

Let me just read Romans 11, 33 to 36, in light of all of this, the mysterious sovereign providence of God, we respond with the Apostle Paul, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, for from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. Amen. And so we see, we see, dear ones, that Assyria, the rod of God’s anger, was ultimately overruled for the glory of God for his good and holy purposes, but we also notice in this passage the foolish arrogance of God’s rod, and that’s the second point of your outline.

Let us consider next the foolish arrogance of God’s rod, that rod, the Assyria and the Assyrian king, it says in verse 7, but he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think, in other words, God is using him as his instrument of chastisement and judgment against his faithless people, but that’s not what, that’s not what Sennacherib intends, that’s not what the Assyrian army intends, what do they intend to do? They intend to conquer and make a great name for themselves, their motives are evil, their motives are cruel and wicked, and therefore God will judge them for their motives, even though God has used them to carry out his purpose of destruction and judgment, God will nevertheless judge them for their wicked, godless motivations, and then it goes on to say, in verse 8, it goes on to say, for he says, are not my kings, are not my commanders all kings?

What does that mean? If the commanders of Assyria are equivalent to kings in the estimation of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, then what is the implication? The implication is that the Assyrian king is himself the great king, indeed the king of kings, you see how Sennacherib’s utter arrogance, his braggadocia, his pride comes pulsating out here in this passage, what arrogance, what megalomania, what an egomaniac, and then we see that megalomania, that arrogance playing out in the way that he describes his conquest, it says, is not Caldo like Parkimish, is not Hamath like Arpad, is not Samaria like Damascus, as my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?

Here a number of kingdoms are listed that had been conquered by Assyria. Now Samaria is also mentioned, and this was probably written and recorded prior to the destruction of Samaria, but nevertheless we need to remember that Isaiah was a prophet, inspired, he was carried along by the Holy Spirit, so speaking by the Spirit of God, speaking prophetically, Samaria is spoken of as if it had already been conquered. The implication is that the king of Assyria is basically saying, well if I was able to conquer all of these other kingdoms and there are many idols, there are many gods, we’re not able to deliver them out of my hand, then what makes you think, oh Jerusalem, that your idols, that your god or gods will protect you from my conquest? E.J. Young points out that it’s an interesting enumeration that he gives of these various kingdoms that had been conquered.

It’s an interesting enumeration, one that seems to come closer and closer to Jerusalem. It begins with the most distant and most northern places and concludes with the nearest and most southern. So the synachron says, it’s not Kalmo, Kalmo’s further to the north, like Carchemish, and then it gets a little closer, Hamath, like Arpad, Samaria, like Damascus. In other words, I’m coming to get you, I’m coming to get you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s his most. Then notice verse 12, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. The synachron thinks that he’s running the show here. He thinks that he’s the one in charge, that he sets the agenda, and the Lord says, I’ll deal with you when I’m done doing my work upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem, done doing my work of judgment and chastisement against my faithless people.

The work of the Lord here is his work of chastening the people of the southern kingdom of Judah. In this scene from the language that he uses, he describes Mount Zion and the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah, namely Jerusalem. And the ultimate goal, if you read broader in Isaiah, you continue reading on at the end of this chapter, the ultimate goal is their restoration. Look down at chapter 10, verse 20. It says, In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth. That pictures restoration. There will be judgment, there will be chastisement, but then there will be restoration. And then skip down to chapter 10, verses 24 and 25.

It says, Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did, for in a very little while my fury will come to an end and my anger will be directed to their destruction. God’s doing a work of chastisement. He’s doing a work of judgment among his people. Judgment begins, after all, with the house of the Lord. But after that, he will turn his judgment focus upon the rod of his wrath, the nation of Assyria. Now, in verses 13 and 14, it goes on to say, for he says, here he’s describing the boisterousness of Sinakra. He says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding.

I remove the boundaries of people and plunder their treasures, like a bolt I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples, and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken. So I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved away or opened its mouth or shrugged. Here we have a sampling of the boastful arrogance of the Assyrian king. Did you notice the number of times he narcissistically refers to himself in this passage? I’ve done this. This is my doing, i.e. my. Then verse 14, he goes on to say, he says, in verse 14, as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken. So I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved away or opened the mouth or shrugged.

Just as the nest of abandoned eggs can easily be gathered without protest from the mother bird, so the king of Assyria is saying here that he has gathered up conquered peoples in order to subjugate them to his kingdom. He’s done so with ease, without any kind of cry of protest. That’s obviously a little bit of monarchical hyperbole there, but nevertheless, he’s saying, I overpowered them all. They offered me no resistance. Then we get to the verse that is probably the hub, the center of this passage, verse 15. Shall the ax boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it, as if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood? Again, this verse is arguably the central hub of this passage, the central verse in this passage.

For all of this arrogant braggadocia, the proud king of Assyria does not realize that he is only a tool in the hand of the Almighty God. He is only merely an instrument that the Lord has used to carry out his soft practices, just as a man might use an axe to chop some firewood, or just as a man who is a carpenter might use a saw to shape some boards for use in building a piece of furniture. So Yahweh, the God of Israel, used Assyria as his instrument to punish and discipline his faithless people. That is the only reason why Assyria and its king had any power, and yet they did not realize that. They thought their power was from themselves. They did not realize that they were but mere, that they were merely instruments in the hands of the Lord.

There’s many takeaways, points of application that we can take from this, but first of all, friends, here we witness the utter folly of a godless worldview, a worldview that boasts of self. There’s a lot of that today, isn’t there? You’re your own man, or your own woman. You’ve got to look out for number one, right? You’ve got to do your own thing. Chart your own course. You are the master of your faith. You are the master of your own soul, the captain of your destiny. But the truth is, brothers and sisters, we are not the masters of our faith. We are not the captains of our souls. Rather, we are all subject to the Lord’s providence. Let me ask you, how many of you chose your parents? How many of you chose to be born to the parents you were born to?

Raise your hand. How many of you chose to be born either as a boy or as a girl? How many of you chose when you would be born, where you would be born, under what circumstances you were born? The answer is none of us. Now, we all have decisions and significant choices that we can make within the boundaries that God has placed us in. But the point is, we are all subject to the Lord’s sovereign providence. We are not ultimately the captains of our souls, the masters of our faith. God is sovereign, and Jesus is Lord, and let us live our lives in the light of that truth. Another important lesson here is that even though God in his providence uses the wicked to accomplish his own ultimately good purposes, they remain responsible for their wickedness and accountable to the Lord.

And so we see in this passage the overarching, overruling sovereign providence of God and the responsibility of Sennacherib and the Assyrians for their wickedness. Those two truths are not contradictory. They work together. And that brings me to my final point as we consider the final closing section of this passage. We see here in verses 16 through 19 the Lord’s fiery judgment against his rod. The Lord’s fiery judgment against his rod. It says, therefore, the Lord God of hosts, now that’s significant. He is the Lord God of what? Of hosts. The heavenly hosts. The Lord is sovereign over all the heavenly hosts, whether that refers to the angelic hosts or whether that refers to the stars and galaxies in the sky. The Lord is sovereign over them. He is the ultimate sovereign, and this should strike fear in the hearts of the arrogant who boast themselves over the Lord.

The Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire. Remember the Bible says that our God is a consuming fire. Jesus is the light of the world, and for those of us who believe, that light is saving light. It’s glorious light. It’s the light of mercy. But for those who reject the Lord and his light, he is a consuming fire, a fire of wrath against the unbelievers. Under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire and his holy one a flame. And it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day. The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy both soul and body.

And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can ripen them. We’ve seen not too long ago in the news what devastation can be caused by forest fires and wildfires. Friends, Yahweh pronounces the judgment that he will bring against Assyria by using two images here in verse 16, the image of wasting sickness and the image of a burning. The wasting sickness image contrasts the weakness and helplessness of an ill man with a consumptive disease, contrasts that with the stout healthy warriors of Assyria’s army. The Assyrian army was something to fear. The Assyrian soldier was mighty, was strong. They were the perfect picture of health and strength. They were very well trained. They were also known for their extreme brutality and cruelty.

You didn’t want to mess with an Assyrian soldier. And the Assyrian army was greatly feared in the ancient world. But the point here, my friends, through these images of the wasting sickness and the fire, the burning, the point is that a complete change will come over the Assyrian army. The huge Assyrian army filled with strong and stout warriors will be so completely decimated that it can be compared to a sick man with a consumptive illness. And the imagery of fire burning up thorns and briars points to the complete destruction of Assyria’s forces. Like a large forest that is completely burned up except for a small remnant of trees, so the Assyrian forces will be utterly decimated. Friends, as we close our time in the work today, you’ve heard the saying, pride goes before a fall.

That is a biblical principle, and it is a principle that played out in redemptive history with respect to the Lord’s dealings with the wicked kingdom of Assyria and its wicked king. Pride goes before a fall, and sooner or later God will judge the arrogant who refuse to repent. Let us be warned against following the footsteps of the boastful king of Assyria. Let us instead humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and recognize his sovereignty over us. But I want you as we close our time today, this has been a judgment oracle that thunders forth the holy and righteous wrath of God against the wicked. And yet, my friends, even though this is a judgment oracle, and even though it is saturated with the theme of God’s anger and righteous wrath, yet notice that even in this judgment oracle, it ends with a hint of mercy, for even in the case of Assyria, God preserves a remnant.

It’s a very tiny hint of mercy, but it’s there nonetheless. Look at verse 19, the remnant of the trees of his force will be so few that a child can write them down. Again, this just further highlights how utterly decimated and destroyed the kingdom of Assyria and its army would be. Nevertheless, there is still a remnant preserved. This leads us to consider a later prophecy that is revealed to Isaiah in chapter 19, verses 23 to 25. And obviously we don’t have time to consider this passage in depth at this point, but let me just read that. So you turn to Isaiah 19, let me read verses 23 to 25. It says this. This is Isaiah prophetically looking into the future and seeing the end gathering of the Gentiles. In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria.

And why will they come into one another’s territory? Will it be to consolidate their forces to attack God’s people? No. The Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. Egypt and Assyria were, they were prototypes of the enemies of God. The Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites, remember? And the Assyrians had attacked Israel and exiled them. So they were pictures of the enemies of God. But here, they along with Israel are described as the people of God and a blessing in the midst of the earth. Verse 25, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, Bless the Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance. His prophecy anticipates the new covenant messianic in-gathering of the Gentile nations, as represented by Egypt and Assyria.

My friends, in God’s mysterious providence, his historical judgments in Old Testament times against Gentile pagan nations, such as the Assyrians, somehow that paves the way for the promised Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God, to bring God’s saving grace and covenant mercies beyond the borders of Israel and onto the Gentile nations through the spread of the gospel. Historically speaking, Yahweh’s righteous wrath somehow cleared the way for mercy to be manifested in the fullness of time, to borrow from Paul’s terminology in Galatians chapter 4. And now that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, has come and has died for the sins of the world, that is to say, has died for Jews and Gentiles alike, who has redeemed sinners, redeemed his people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, now that that has happened, even those descended from the wicked ancient Assyrians can become spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham, and it is all through God’s sovereign, amazing grace.

Isn’t God’s providence amazing? And isn’t it wonderful that in wrath he remembers mercy? Dear listener, have you tasted the goodness and mercy of the Lord? Humble yourself before the Lord and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith today. And then you will not have to fear the wrath that is spoken of in this passage, for the Lord through Christ will forgive your sins and give you the gift of eternal life. May God, in his mercy, see to it that you may be so blessed. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your divine providence, which is so mysterious. How inscrutable are your ways. And yet, Lord, we know that we are responsible before you. And so, Lord, give us the grace to humble ourselves before you to recognize that we are not the captains of our own souls or the masters of our own faith, but that Jesus is Lord.

And Lord Jesus, we do receive and rest upon you as our Lord and Savior, and we ask that you would give us the grace to live lives of grateful obedience to you. In your name we pray, all of God’s people say, 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.

February 9, 2025
His Hand is Stretched Out Still!

About this sermon

Isaiah announces that the Lord has sent a word against proud Israel, who boast that they will rebuild with dressed stones and cedars. He raises enemies on every side, yet the people do not turn to him, and the refrain repeats: “For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.” Wickedness burns like fire and turns people against one another. Isaiah pronounces woe on those who decree unjust laws and rob the poor and the widow. Sin is rebellion against the Creator, not a small thing, and calls for repentance.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word, my sermon text this morning, as we return finally to our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah, we’re going to consider Isaiah 9, verse 8 through chapter 10, verse 4. And you’ll find that beginning on page 681 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, let us hear God’s Holy Word, Isaiah chapter 9 beginning at verse 8. The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel. And all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart, the bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones. The Sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. But the Lord raises the adversaries of resin against him and stirs up his enemies.

The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day. The elders and the honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briars and thorns, it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one spares another. They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied. Each devours the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh. Together they are against Judah. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey.

What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners, or fall among the slain. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we pray that by your Spirit, the Spirit who has breathed out this portion of your Word as He has breathed out all of the Scriptures, we pray that by your Spirit you would illuminate us, open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your Word, help us to be attentive, help us to feed upon your Word, and may your Word by the Spirit be implanted in our souls and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives, fruit that brings glory to your name and comfort to us, your people.

We pray these things, Heavenly Father, through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, His Hand is Stretched Out Still. And there are sermon outlines available, and if you have an outline, you’ll notice that there are six key words that I’d encourage you to listen for in my sermon today, especially the children. The words are judgment, wickedness, injustice, wrath, righteousness, and mercy. Well, dear ones, it was many years ago, I think it was when I was a seminary student, and I happened to be thumbing through a Christian magazine, I believe it was probably Christianity today, and towards the front of the magazine was a little cartoon which depicted a judgment day scene. And this cartoon featured stick figures representing people standing before God.

Now that’s something that is at my level of artistic competence. But in any case, in this cartoon, there were three platforms pictured with these stick figures standing on them. One of the platforms was labeled the saved or the righteous, and it had a few stick figures standing on it. Another platform was labeled the unsaved or the wicked. And again, that platform had a few stick figures depicted on it. But the third and largest platform, which was overrun, just jam-packed full of these stick figures, was labeled the victims. At the top of the cartoon, in large letters, God was depicted as letting out a great big sigh with an exclamation point. Now it seems that the point of this cartoon, beloved, was to illustrate the fact that many of our contemporaries in our world today seem to view victimhood as a way of excusing themselves from moral accountability for their sins against their creator, and therefore as a way of avoiding God’s judgment.

You want to justify your sin and avoid God’s righteous judgment? Well, then according to the thinking of many today, according to our contemporary victimology, simply claim victim status of one sort or another, and you’re good to go. Well, my friends, there are many biblical truths that our secular contemporaries have trouble accepting. But if there are two biblical truths that many contemporary people in the secular West have particular difficulty accepting, they are number one, the truth of their own moral accountability to their creator, and number two, the reality of God’s holy and righteous wrath and anger against sin, and not just his anger against sin as an abstract principle, but his anger against sinners. As the scriptures tell us, God is angry with the wicked every day. It doesn’t say God is angry with wickedness as an abstract concept, but God is angry with the wicked every day.

There is a personal anger, a holy anger that the Lord has against those who persist unrepentant in their wickedness. Now in terms of moral accountability, it seems that many today are almost allergic to personal responsibility. No one wants to take personal accountability for their actions or their attitudes. This is seen when society or social pressures are blamed for sins. It is also seen when personal psychological struggles are used as an excuse for bad attitudes and for misbehavior. Now I don’t want to be misunderstood, beloved. The Bible certainly does not deny the power of social pressure to influence our attitudes and our behaviors. In fact, I can think of a number of reasons in the scriptures why the scriptures affirm that indeed social pressure, what is sometimes called peer pressure, can indeed be a powerful influence upon our actions and our attitudes.

Nor do I believe the scriptures dismiss the realities or the maladies of professionally diagnosed mental illnesses. But at the same time, friends, the word of God does not allow us to appeal to social pressures or to psychological struggles as excuses for our sin and rebellion against God and against His holy law, or as a free pass to avoid His divine scrutiny and judgment. My friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is just one of many evidences and reminders in God’s Word that our infinitely holy God is deeply offended by sin and wickedness, that sin and wickedness result in terrible and destructive consequences, and that our God is a God of holy wrath and righteous anger against sin and against sinners, even as He is also a God of amazing grace and mercy to repentant sinners in Christ.

Now as we turn our attention to our passage from Isaiah for this Lord’s Day morning, this passage is of course an oracle of judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel and sometimes the northern kingdom of Israel is called Ephraim, and it is also an oracle of judgment against Ephraim’s capital city, Samaria. It is possible that Isaiah publicly delivered this oracle shortly before the Syro-Ephraimite war, and this passage anticipates God’s decisive historical judgment against the northern kingdom in the destruction and exile that was visited upon Samaria and upon the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire, and that destruction and exile took place around 722 B.C. So that kind of gives you the historical setting for our passage for today. The fact that this terrifying judgment passage is placed immediately after the beautiful and familiar Messianic prophecy of chapter 9, verses 1 through 7, which speaks of a childhood who would be born, a son who would be given, upon whose shoulders the government would be given, and so forth.

The fact that this judgment oracle happens immediately after or is recorded immediately after that beautiful and familiar Messianic prophecy underscores the truth that the Messianic era, which would usher in the gracious rule of Jesus Christ, the Messianic King, who would reign on the throne of David, that this era would first be preceded by a national judgment against an unfaithful, covenant-breaking people. So that brings us to our passage for today, and let’s consider the first section of our passage, verses 8 through 17, as we notice here that Yahweh’s righteous judgment is against his faithless people. We notice here Yahweh, the Lord’s righteous judgment against his faithless people. It says in verse 8, the Lord has sent, what has he sent? He sent something. He has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel.

The Lord has sent a word against Jacob. What power is there in a word? There is great power in the word of God. This word that God sends against Jacob is obviously a prophetic word of judgment as opposed to a word of grace. And notice the language. Isaiah, under the Spirit’s inspiration, describes this word as falling on Israel. The language here makes it clear that this is no empty or powerless threat. God’s word is an effective word, a word that most certainly will accomplish that which God ordains for it to accomplish, whether we are talking about God’s word of grace coming in the Gospel or God’s word of judgment. It is an effective word. It’s not like the words of many politicians. Politicians will sometimes make promises or issue threats, but there’s no teeth to their promises or to their threats.

So their words are powerless to change anything. But not so the word of the heavenly king. His word is against Jacob, against a people who had rejected the Lord, who had redeemed them as a people. These had rejected him. They had gone after other gods. They had broken the covenant, and they were also guilty of multiple social injustices against their fellow Israelites. And what will be the effect of this word falling upon Israel? Look at verse 9. It says, and all the people will know, not just know on an intellectual level, but they will know on a personal level. All the people will know, Ephraim, and then he explains who these people are that he’s addressing this judgment oracle against, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria. This is the northern kingdom and its capital city.

And what does he charge these folks of being guilty of? He says that these say in pride and in arrogance of heart. Verse 10, the bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones. The sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. We’re able. We’re powerful. We’re righteous. In other words, all the people will know. They will personally experience what God’s word of judgment pronounces against them. They will not be able to avoid or to evade personal responsibility for their covenant breaking, their wickedness, their social injustices. And in verses 9 and 10, we see that instead of being characterized by humility, instead of being characterized by the reverent fear of the Lord, Yahweh, northern Israel at this time, the northern kingdom of Israel was characterized by pride and arrogance of heart, a pride and an arrogance that were demonstrated by an arrogant self-confidence in their own ability to rebuild that which Yahweh their God had torn down in his judgment and chastisement.

And then it goes on to say in verses 11 and 12, but the Lord raises up the adversaries of resin against him. Now who is this resin? Well, you may recall that resin was then the king of Syria, not us Syria, but the king of Syria at this time. We saw that back in chapter 7 verse 1. And so the adversaries of resin would refer ultimately to the Assyrians who were threatening all of the nations in that region at that particular time of redemptive history. Not just, not only were they threatening the Syrians, but also they were threatening the northern tribe of Israel and they were threatening the southern tribe, the southern kingdom of Judah. In any case, we see here that the Lord stirs up Israel’s pagan neighbors as his instruments of judgment against his faithless covenant-breaking people.

And that’s something, that’s an important thing to take to heart friends. God is able to use even the wicked to accomplish his good and holy sovereign purposes. He is able to rule and overrule even the wicked for his ultimate purposes and plans. And so we’re told the Lord raises up the adversaries of resin against him and stirs up his enemies and then notice the language of being swallowed up. Verse 12, the Syrians on the east and the Philistines, they were the coastal peoples on the west, the Syrians and the Philistines devour Israel with open mouth. God is going to use these neighbors, these Syrians and he’s going to use the Philistines, these pagan peoples to devour, to swallow up his unbelieving covenant-breaking people Israel. And then we see the first time this refrain shows up, it shows up four times in this passage And that is at the end of verse 12, it says, for all this, his anger has not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.

Even though this judgment, this national judgment is coming against northern Israel, that’s not going to exhaust the Lord’s anger against the sin and wickedness of his professed people. For his anger, his anger has not turned away. His hand is stretched out still. Now let’s think about this imagery of God’s hand being stretched out. Now we know, don’t we children, if you know the children’s catechism, that God is a spirit and he has not a body like man. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ with respect to his human nature has hands, but in his divine nature, in the divine essence, there is no physical body. And so God is a spirit. He doesn’t have literal eyes or ears or hands or feet. So when the Bible uses the image of God’s hand, God’s hand stands for his power, his inherent omnipotent power.

But notice that his hand is said to be, in verse 12, his hand is stretched out. His hand is stretched out. What does that bring to mind? What does that represent? Well this represents the Lord’s power. And when Yahweh’s hand is said to be stretched out, this depicts the Lord’s power in action. And in this case, the action is an action of judgment. God is actively judging his unrepentant people. This refrain again is repeated four times in our passage. It’s repeated in verse 12, 17, 21, and also chapter 10, verse 4. So there is a progression in the literary progression and intensification of this note of judgment against the wicked. And this progression and this repetition has the effect of emphasizing the seriousness of the people’s sin and the severity and persistence of the Lord’s anger against sin.

Because it has always been the case that mankind has not taken his sin seriously enough. But that is especially true today. We live in a time of laxity, of moral laxity and licentiousness. We live in a time when sin is not taken seriously. Oh, yeah, nobody’s perfect. Yeah, I’m a sinner, I’m not perfect, but hey, the Lord’s merciful, right? So no worries, right? The problem is that in the Bible, sin is a shaking of your puny fist in mind against the creator, the one who gave us life, who gives us breath. Every beat of your heart, every breath that you draw in is ultimately a gift from your creator God. And yet you live your life as if this God does not matter. You live, you and I are in our natural fallen state. We live our lives with a godless perspective and worldview, whether it’s a conscious worldview or not.

We live as we learned this morning in our morning instruction class. We live as if we were autonomous, as if we were a law to ourself, as if we were independent. When in fact, we are dependent creatures, we are not autonomous, we are not the final standard our creator is. We were created in his image, but we were reflected, we were created to reflect his image, to think God’s thoughts after him and to walk in his ways. And apart from God’s saving grace, we don’t do that. We instead live autonomously. We live as a law unto ourselves. And that, my friends, is deeply, deeply offensive to our infinitely holy creator. And so this language here, again, emphasizes the severity and seriousness of human sin and also the severity and persistence of Yahweh’s anger, his holy, righteous, just anger against sin.

And to add to that, as we go on to the next verse, verse 13, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah charges the people with obtuseness, with unteachableness. He says in verse 13, the people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. You know, sometimes God in his good and kind providence will bring difficulties and struggles into sinners’ lives as a way of waking them up and turning them to the Lord. Perhaps some of you have experienced that in your own walk with the Lord, in your own conversion. Maybe the Lord used a sickness or a broken relationship or losing a job or what have to wake you up and to cause you to consider where you stand before your maker. Struggles and chastisements, providential chastisements from the Lord can be a blessing if they are improved, if they are taken to heart.

But in the case of the northern kingdom of Israel at this time, the people had experienced the Lord’s chastisements and the Lord had raised up prophets to speak the word of the Lord to them, to call them to repentance and renewed faith in the Lord. But instead, how did they respond? It says the people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of Yahweh of hosts, of the Lord of hosts. In other words, instead of responding to Yahweh’s chastisement with renewed repentance and faith, the people dug in their heels, they stiffened their necks, they hardened their hearts and persisted in their wicked rebellion. And then the Lord goes on through Isaiah to give the judgment against them. It says in verse 14, so the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day.

This language of one day implies the suddenness of God’s judgment against the people. And who are represented by the head and the tail, by the palm branch and the reed? Well, Isaiah explains in the very next verse, verse 15, the elder and honored man are the head and the prophet who teaches lies, that would be the false prophet. That was a big problem among the Old Testament people of God, false prophets. The prophet who teaches lies is the tail. And then he explains in verse 16, for those who guide this people have been leading them astray and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. It is a thing that brings culpability and guilt to any soul to walk astray from the Lord. But those who lead people astray from the ways of the Lord are particularly grievously guilty before the Lord and will receive, apart from the intervention of God’s grace and their own repentance, will receive the greater condemnation.

So here in verses 14 through 16, Yahweh, the covenant Lord of Israel, judges the leaders, he judges the elders and the false prophets who had led his people astray. But then verse 17 is almost shocking. In verse 17, we learn that not only would the faithless leaders of Israel be judged, but all of the people, the people as a whole, including even youths, including even the most vulnerable in society, such as the fatherless and the widows, even they would be judged as well. It says, therefore, the Lord does not rejoice over their young men. The young men represent the flower of youth in all of its strength and vigor, but even they would fall under the judgment of God. The Lord does not rejoice over their young men or have and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows.

If you know the scriptures, you know that oftentimes we see in the Word of God a special place in God’s heart for the most vulnerable in society, the fatherless, the widow and so forth. But here, we’re told that the Lord will not have compassion on these fatherless and widow. Why is that the case? Well, as it goes on to explain in verse 17, everyone is godless and an evildoer, not just the leaders, not just the ordinary folk, even those who are most vulnerable in society, even they, too. Even they are godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly, as it says. Well, what are some of the lessons we can learn from this section of our passage for today? A couple things. First of all, God’s Word is powerful and effective. It seems weak to the secular man or woman.

It seems ineffective to those who are outside of the faith. But God’s Word, though it is simple, though it is humble, it is powerful. It is effective. It accomplishes that which the Lord ordains for it to accomplish. And here in this passage, we have an effectual word of judgment. But praise God, brothers and sisters, that in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, God speaks a word not of judgment, but he speaks a word of grace and forgiveness. For Christ has taken our judgment upon himself. He has absorbed the righteous judgment of God against our sin. He has absorbed that into himself when he paid the penalty for our sin on the cross of Calvary. Praise God for the good news of Jesus, for his effectual word of grace and forgiveness to those who by sovereign grace come to believe that word.

We also learn in this passage that God in his providence will sometimes choose to use the wicked to judge the wicked, as he used the Syrians and the Philistines, and ultimately the Assyrians to judge Israel, as we’re told back in, again, verses 11 and 12, where it says, but the Lord raises the adversaries of resin against him and stirs up his enemies. God is in control of the international scene. He is sovereign over all of the nations, and it says in verse 12, the Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. Israel had forsaken their Lord. They had broken his covenant. They had gone after other gods. They had committed wickedness, and they had committed social injustices. And God had called them to repentance, but they had refused.

So what does God do against his wicked, unbelieving people? He raises up wicked pagans to judge them. God sometimes does that. God in his sovereign overarching providence can and often does raise up the wicked in order to accomplish his ultimately good purposes, purposes of both mercy and, as in this particular case, purposes of judgment as well. But one of the most important lessons that we learn from this passage and indeed from the entirety of this passage is that God’s righteous wrath persists against the unrepentant. For those who refuse to repent and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God’s wrath abides. And so make sure, dear listener, that the wrath of God does not abide on you. Make sure that you have fled for salvation to Jesus. Make sure that you, by the grace of God, have received and rested upon Christ and Christ alone as your Lord and Savior.

Now as we move on in our passage, the next important thing I would have us to notice found in verses 18 through 21, we learn here of the destructive power of wickedness. The destructive power of wickedness. Let me read these verses once again. It says for wickedness burns like a fire. It consumes briars and thorns. It kindles the thickets of the forest and they roll upward in a column of smoke. You get the picture? Burning destruction here. Recently we’ve heard much about the destructive power of fire as we’ve seen multiple news reports of the devastating and the extensive destruction that has resulted from the widespread wildfires in the Los Angeles area in California. Since fire is so obviously destructive, how appropriate that Isaiah compares the destructive power of wickedness to a fire. But this is not just the power of wickedness.

The Lord’s righteous anger is also described as a fire. In fact in the Bible, God is described himself as a consuming fire, a God whose holy wrath consumes sin and wickedness. And so it goes on to say in verse 19, through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is scorched. Again, notice the burning imagery. Not just through wickedness, but through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is scorched. And the people are like fuel for the fire. No one spares another and so forth. Not only would faithless Israel be threatened by outside enemies such as the Syrians and the Philistines and ultimately by the Assyrians who would conquer them and drag them into exile. Not only would there be external enemies that God brought to them to judge them. Internal strife and division and conflict and disunity within the nation would also be a means of God’s judgment against his covenant breaking people.

You know all of this reminds me of what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians to the churches of Galatia in Galatians 5 verses 14 and 15 where he warns the church against the biting and devouring that can occur when the church is disunified. Notice again, let me read this Galatians chapter 5 verses 14 and 15. Galatians says, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But then it goes on to say, he warns here, but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Beloved, wickedness and godlessness have a self-destructive quality about them. Wickedness tears down, wickedness burns up, wickedness consumes, wickedness destroys. Whereas righteousness builds up, righteousness ennobles, righteousness establishes, righteousness confirms. Oh, by the grace of God, may we repent of wickedness and through faith in Jesus Christ out of gratitude for his amazing grace and gift of salvation, may we pursue righteousness and holiness for the glory of God and for our own comfort and good.

But you’ve probably noticed and it’s very clear that one of the major themes that permeates this entire passage is the theme of God’s wrath. And when folks think of God’s wrath today, and this is probably true even among some They tend to think of God’s wrath as an irrational or an uncontrollable thing. But we need to understand, beloved, that in the Bible, God’s wrath is not a divine temper tantrum. God’s wrath is not an out of control volcanic eruption of uncontrolled anger where God blows his stack. That’s often how anger expresses itself among sinful fallen human beings. When we get angry, it’s often a sinful anger and we lose control of our emotions, but not so with the Lord. On the contrary, in the Bible, God’s wrath is his settled, self-controlled, just and righteous opposition to all that which is unrighteous, all that which is opposed to and contrary to his holiness, and all that which goes against the flourishing of his image-bearers, mankind.

Praise God that he has satisfied the demands of his own holy wrath by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to absorb that wrath into himself in the place of all of those who have trusted in him for their salvation. Praise God for that. We also notice, as we close up our time in the Word today, we notice Yahweh’s opposition to injustice, Yahweh’s opposition to injustice. And remember, Yahweh is the covenant name for God. It’s represented in English translations when the word Lord is put in all capital letters. We see here, Yahweh’s opposition to injustice. Look at verse 1, woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees. When the Scriptures pronounce a woe, that is a curse pronouncement. That is an indication of judgment and curse. Woe to those who do what? Who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression.

To turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey. What are these iniquitous decrees? Well in context here, these would be laws or legal decrees which promote or enshrine oppression and injustice, even against the most vulnerable in society. And the most vulnerable in society back then were often represented by the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. And remember, in the ancient world, there wasn’t much of a social safety net. There wasn’t a welfare system. There wasn’t social security. There wasn’t any of that. So if you were a widow in the ancient world, you were in a really bad way. You were very vulnerable. And same thing if you were fatherless, same thing if you were among the poor.

But Isaiah’s pronouncement here indicates that in the northern kingdom of Israel, apparently, there were laws that had been enacted which were iniquitous decrees, laws which had the effect of oppressing even the most vulnerable in society. God takes notice of that, and he is not pleased with that at all. These iniquitous decrees would include legal decrees which were contrary to God’s Torah, which he had revealed through Moses to his people, his law and his covenant instruction. And so a woe is pronounced on those who have enacted and sought to enforce such legal decrees. And then Isaiah brings his thought full circle. He says in verse 3, what will you do on the day of punishment if you’ve been guilty of enacting and enforcing these iniquitous decrees, these oppressive decrees, and you have not repented of that, you have not turned from your wicked ways back to the Lord.

What is left for you? He asks a very reasonable question. What will you do on the day of punishment in the ruin that will come from afar? That ruin which will come from afar probably is a reference to the invasion of the Assyrian Empire. In the context again, this appears to be referring to the Assyrian invasion. But we need to remember, brothers and sisters, that this historical judgment against the kingdom of northern Israel was but a type and picture of ultimate judgment. It is a type and picture of the final judgment which will come when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory at the end of this age. And he asks the question, to whom will you flee for help? That is a really pressing question that all of us need to answer in our hearts.

To whom will you flee for help? For those who have trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, to those who have turned from sin to Christ and received him as Savior, we know the answer to that question. The Lord is our helper. The Lord is the one who cleanses us from our sins and clothes us in his perfect everlasting righteousness by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from works, praise be to God. But for those who have rejected the Lord and his word, for those who have heard the gospel but rejected Christ and continue to rely on self, for them there will be no escape from God’s righteous judgment. That is what is implied here. And then it goes on to say in verse 4, nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain.

And then it ends up with these familiar words of this refrain, for all this, his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. These are sober words. These are powerful words, my friends. Imprisonment and enslavement, which the imprisonment would no doubt entail, or death itself, will be the only prospects for those who refuse to repent. For as it says at the end of verse 4 in chapter 10, his hand is stretched out still. Think of the implications of that. Even the death of the unrepentant wicked will not end the holy wrath of the Lord. There is an implication here. It’s not explicitly taught, but it’s implied that the Lord’s wrath will continue even after the death of these unrepentant wicked. So there are hints here, I believe, of eternal punishment. For all this, his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.

Even the death of the unrepentant wicked will not end the holy wrath of the Lord, for that wrath remains and his hand is stretched out still. But thanks be to God that there is hope of escape for those who through sovereign grace repent. Escape from the Lord’s stretched out hand of judgment. You may say, how do I escape from the Lord’s stretched out hand of judgment against me for my sins? Jesus Christ, escape from the Lord’s stretched out hand of judgment, is found in the hands of the merciful Savior who stretched out his hands upon the hard wood of the cross in order to pay the penalty for sin and to offer free and full forgiveness and mercy to all who receive him by faith as Savior and Lord. Dear listener, have you found refuge from the holy wrath of God against your sin by running into the merciful arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose arms are stretched out to receive all who turn to him in faith and repentance?

Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Receive and rest upon him alone and you can be assured that his hand is not stretched out against you in wrath, but his hand is stretched out in blessing and mercy and grace. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, for you are holy and righteous and just. Lord, we recognize that because of your infinite holiness and righteousness and justice, we as sinners deserve your holy wrath. We deserve to have your hand stretched out still against us in wrath and judgment, and yet you have given your Son. You demonstrated your love for us, Father, in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Out of love for us sinners, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to satisfy the demands of your own holy justice.

And so we look to Jesus, to his stretched out hands. We look to him for mercy and we thank you that in him we are forgiven. Lord, we pray that we would take these truths to heart and that we would bear faithful witness to them in our lives for your glory and for our comfort. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, Amen. Let’s close our time today by rising and we’ll sing together hymns 262, one there is above all others, 262.

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 26, 2025
The Coming Prince of Peace

About this sermon

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Isaiah’s prophecy describes the person of the promised Messiah: fully human, born a child of David’s line, and fully divine, the Son given, whose names are Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The early church had to defend his true humanity against Gnosticism and his deity against other heresies. It also describes his reign: the increase of his government and peace will have no end, established with justice and righteousness forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish it.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word in my sermon text this morning as we continue to work our way through the book of the prophet Isaiah is in Isaiah chapter 9. We’ll be focusing especially on Isaiah 9 verses 6 through 7, though I’ll read the first seven verses of this passage to introduce the fuller context here. You’ll find that beginning on page 680 in your pew Bibles. Isaiah 9 verses 6 through 7. Beginning at verse 1, let us hear God’s holy word. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shown. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. O Lord and Father in heaven, attune our hearts to the glad tidings of great joy that are contained in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. We would pray that by your spirit you would be present as the word is declared, and we pray that you would cause our hearts to be open and receptive to this word. We would ask, O Lord, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth your word with clarity, with correctness, with power, and with the assistance and grace of your Holy Spirit.

We pray that you would be with us now and bless our time in the word. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. Title of my sermon this morning is The Coming Prince of Peace, and I’d encourage you to follow along in your sermon outline. You’ll notice there’s three key words that I’d encourage you to listen for in today’s sermon or this morning’s sermon, and those are the words messiah, kingdom, and advent. Well, my dear listeners, what is the Bible all about? Well, in answer to the third question of the shorter catechism, which asks, what do the scriptures principally teach, we are told this, and these should be familiar words because I mentioned this catechism question and answer in another recent sermon. The Bible-based answer to that question is the scriptures principally teach, number one, what man is to believe concerning God, and number two, what duty God requires of man.

In other words, my friends, the holy scriptures were given by Almighty God primarily to teach what we are to believe about him and also how we are to live our lives for him. God’s word teaches us both doctrine and ethics. It reveals theology, and it instructs us in Christian living as disciples, as followers of Jesus. Now, all of this is indeed very true, but the scriptures teach us these things not in the form of a point-by-point systematic theology textbook or in the form of a manual of Christian doctrine or a manual of Christian ethics, though, of course, we Orthodox Presbyterians certainly value such books on theology and doctrine and ethics, and well, we should. But rather, friends, the scriptures teach us these things. They teach us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of us.

They teach us these things by telling a story, and that needs to be, we need to understand the sense in which the Bible is a story. God’s story, as revealed in the holy scriptures, is certainly not a story in the sense of a fable or a myth or a piece of theological fiction. After all, the events that are revealed in God’s authoritative, inerrant word are events that really happened in real space-time history. But instead, God’s story, revealed in the Bible, is to be understood as the unfolding drama of redemption, a story of God’s mighty acts within history, mighty acts of salvation that climaxed in His sending of a promised Messiah, a Messiah who would come to earth in order to save His people from their sins. To put it another way, my friends, in a very real sense, the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the subject matter of the Bible, is ultimately Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament scriptures anticipate and point forward to and prophesy about the coming of Jesus the Messiah, and the New Testament scriptures record the coming of Christ to this earth, and the ushering in of the kingdom of God through the virgin birth, the obedient life, the sacrificial atoning death, and the glorious bodily resurrection of Christ our Savior. So from the standpoint of the Bible as God’s story, the Bible is ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving work. That’s an important thing for us to remember often, especially in our day and age, when the focus is on us and where many preachers will give you the impression that the Bible is about you. No, it’s, surprise, surprise, it’s not about you. It’s about Jesus. My friends, the traditional Advent season as celebrated historically in the church provides us with a wonderful opportunity to get reacquainted with a vitally important aspect of God’s story as revealed in the scriptures, namely, God’s Old Testament promise to send a messiah or anointed one in order to redeem and rescue His people.

Of course, in hindsight, from our New Covenant perspective, in hindsight, we know that this promise was fulfilled by the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, which is traditionally celebrated on Christmas. But the Old Testament scriptures are filled with types and prophecies which teach us a great deal about the coming messiah. The Old Testament is filled with Christology, with the doctrine of Christ, teachings about the promised coming messiah. And one of the clearest messianic prophecies in all of the Old Testament is our text for this Lord’s Day morning, which teaches us about the kind of person that the Christ or messiah would be and also which teaches us about His kingdom. Now once again, it’s important to remember the context, the historical context in which the Holy Spirit or in which the Holy Spirit revealed these truths to the prophet Isaiah.

Chapter nine begins by reminding the reader of the gloom, the national gloom, if you will, that had been experienced in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. Bible scholars believe that Isaiah is here referring to the fact that the tribe of Naphtali in northern Israel suffered greatly when the Assyrian king Tiglath-Paleser III attacked it and he attacked it in 734 and 732 BC. This gloom that is being spoken of is a national gloom. It is national distress that came upon the northern kingdom. But this same verse also points to a time when the same region which had experienced such darkness and gloom would be honored in the future and would see a great light. Again let me read to you chapter nine, verses one and two, where the Holy Spirit through Isaiah says, but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. God brought into contempt his sinning covenant-breaking people among the northern tribes, including the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But then it goes on to say, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. And then we read these wonderful words in verse two. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, the land of Naphtali and Zebulun, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. When was this fulfilled? Well actually, when we compare scripture with scripture, the Bible makes it very clear. Matthew chapter four, verses 12 through 17 tells us that this prophecy was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus’ ministry in the area of Galilee.

Let’s turn briefly to Matthew chapter four and let me read Matthew four, verses 12 through 17. The apostle Matthew writes these words beginning at verse 12. Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he, that is Jesus, withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death on them, a light has dawned. And then it says this, from that time Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The light of the world, Jesus Christ proclaims a message of light, a message of hope. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. So friends, it is clear when we compare scripture with scripture that this whole passage here in Isaiah chapter 9 is a messianic prophecy that was fulfilled by the birth, advent, and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what kind of a person is the Lord Jesus Christ, this promised Messiah, to be? Well that brings me to my sermon text for today. Let’s focus on verse 6 as we consider first of all the person of the promised Messiah. That’s the first point in your sermon outline, the person of the promised Messiah. It says this, for to us, these are very familiar words but we need to hear them afresh beloved, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

And the government shall be upon his shoulder. Let me pause there. He’s going to be a child, he’s going to be human, but he’s also going to be a royal child. He’s going to rule, he’s going to have a government, a kingdom. And what is his name? Remember that in the Bible your name represents your attributes, your character, who you actually are. It’s not just a title or a designation. It says his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. What do we learn here about the person of the promised Messiah? What kind of a person the Christ would be? Well we learn first of all that he is to be a real flesh and blood human being. That is very clear from the words, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

By the way, this language of a son being given speaks of the Messiah as a gift from God. The emphasis is on his grace, his gift to us, not our works, our merits, or anything of the sort. But we learn that he is a real flesh and blood human being. My friends, our Lord Jesus was a real flesh and blood human being, truly human. In his human nature he possessed a real human body and a real human soul. He was a body soul. That’s what human beings are. We have a body, we have a soul, we are body souls. And so was our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn’t just a God indwelt body, he was the God man. So he’s a real human being with a real human nature, yet without sin. That’s what makes him different from us.

But it’s so interesting and important to understand, beloved, that when God sent his Son into this world to be our Savior and Messiah, he didn’t have the angels drop him down fresh out of heaven. Jesus didn’t descend directly from heaven and then miraculously, instantaneously take upon himself a human nature. No, instead the scriptures indicate that Jesus spent the usual time in his mother Mary’s womb and was born into this world in the usual way as a child through the process of labor and delivery. Now, of course, his conception was indeed unique and supernatural as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. But nevertheless, the way he came into this world was through the ordinary process of spending time in his mother’s womb and being delivered into this world in the ordinary way.

Friends, the point of this all is that our Savior had to be a real, true, full human being if he was going to be qualified to save us. Since it was only as a real flesh and blood man that Jesus could save men and women from their sins. Only as a person with a genuine and full humanity could our Lord Jesus Christ fulfill his role as the second or last Adam. As the new covenant head and representative who would represent and rescue the fallen sons and daughters of the first Adam. Now it might be interesting to you to know that one of the earliest heresies in the early church right after the age of the apostles was the heresy that denied not the deity of Christ. The deity of Christ was openly and fully acknowledged from the very get-go.

We see clear evidence of that in the New Testament scriptures itself. The apostolic Christians believed that Jesus, the man Jesus, is the divine Lord. The evidences for his deity are so clear in the New Testament scriptures. One of the earliest heresies in the church was not a denial of our Lord’s divine nature, but a denial of his human nature. This was the heresy, for example, of the Gnostics who because of the influence of Greek philosophy viewed the human body as inferior and even dirty and evil. And the idea that the divine Christ would take upon himself a filthy inferior human body was regarded as disgusting to them. And so one of the earliest heresies that the church had to fight off was the heresy of Gnosticism that denied our Lord’s full humanity. So that’s one of the reasons why I belabor this point.

We need to understand Jesus is not just a man, but he is truly man, fully man. He has a full human nature. And that is brought out clearly in this prophecy here in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. But in this same verse, the promised Messiah who is revealed to be a real flesh and blood human being is also revealed to be divine. He is revealed to be God, God Almighty. How do we know that? Well, again, notice what is said of this child to be born, this son to be given. It says, and his name shall be called. And remember the name represents who he is, his attributes. His name shall be called, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. My friends, clearly these are titles and names that could only be properly ascribed to Almighty God.

And yet here we find Isaiah the prophet ascribing these divine titles to this human child, this child who would be born. What a high Christology, what a high doctrine of Christ Isaiah has. And remember, this was written, this was revealed and written hundreds of years before Jesus of Nazareth showed up on the scene of human history. Well, let’s take a look at these terms. He is first of all described as wonderful counselor or as some translations like, for example, the King James and the New King James Version translated, wonderful comma counselor. There’s a debate about, are these two distinct titles or names for Jesus, the promised Messiah, or is it wonderful counselor, one name? Well, I would favor the way it is recorded here or translated here, I should say, in the English Standard Version and versions like it.

As one commentator puts it and points out, it seems likely that the prophet intended us to understand that the child has four names, not five. The first two suggest divine wisdom and power, for the word translated as wonderful has overtones of deity. What does that term wonderful mean in wonderful counselor? Well, as Derek Kidner points out, wonderful regularly means supernatural. It points to the fact that this child to be born will be of a supernatural nature. And again, this term has overtones of deity. And interestingly, as Kidner points out, it is Yahweh himself who is described in chapter 28, verse 29 as wonderful in counsel. So when we compare scripture with scripture, it’s clear that this wonderful counselor is none other than Yahweh himself had come to be born. Another commentator points out with respect to the term counselor that this term points to the Messiah as a king, a king who determines upon and carries out a program of action.

As wonderful counselor, the coming son of David will carry out a royal program that will cause all the world to marvel. And so the title and name, wonderful counselor, clearly points to the Messiah’s deity, his full divinity. He is indeed supernatural in his person. But he is also described in the next title and name as mighty God. Again, this is a clear affirmation of the coming Messiah’s divinity. Now how do the liberals and the skeptics of the Bible explain this away? Well, some attempt to reduce the significance of this title to mean God-like hero. But the problem with that is that this language here of mighty God doesn’t merely mean God-like hero because again, when we compare scripture with scripture and when we compare the way Isaiah uses this term in other places in his own book.

For example, Isaiah chapter 10 verse 21, the term clearly refers in that passage to the Yahweh, to the Lord. So again, the promised Messiah is to be fully divine. He’s not only wonderful counselor, but he is the mighty God. Again, this term also emphasizes the Messiah’s divine power as a divine warrior. He is the mighty God. He is the divine warrior who fights for his people. And by the way, this is an emphasis in scripture that is tremendously common throughout the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, and it’s also tremendously comforting. Think of it, brothers and sisters in Christ, our God, our God who has redeemed us and saved us. He is the divine warrior who fights for us. God and that manifested itself. God manifested himself as the divine warrior on such occasions as, for example, the Exodus.

The Lord, Yahweh, was the divine warrior who defeated the mightiest king on earth in the known world at that time, the great Pharaoh of Egypt, the Pharaoh who was oppressing God’s people. The Lord is the divine warrior who conquered the oppressors and persecutors of his people. And that is the same divine Lord who fights for us today. And in Christ, God has fought your battles and mine, for Christ has conquered our sin and risen victorious from the dead. So he is the wonderful counselor. He’s the mighty God. He’s also described as the everlasting Father. Now, for those of us living as we do in the New Covenant era and aware of the full revelation that the Scriptures give us of the triunity of our God, this may cause us to scratch our heads a little bit and say, well, what’s he talking about?

Why is it that the promised Messiah, Jesus, is described as the everlasting Father? Doesn’t this confuse the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, with God the Father? Does this not blur the distinction between the persons of the Holy Trinity? Well, again, we need to understand, we always need to interpret passages of the Bible in their context. And here in this particular context, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah is not giving us detailed information on the doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, the title, this title, everlasting Father, it’s not meant to confuse Jesus, the Son of God, with God the Father, nor to deny personal distinctions within the Godhead, such as the distinction between God the Father and God the Son. Rather, the way this title is being used here by Isaiah stresses the Messiah’s father-like compassion and care towards his subjects.

Dr. Kiddner explains it this way. He says, Father signifies the paternal benevolence of the perfect ruler over a people whom he loves as his children. Jesus as everlasting Father is, in the words of another commentator, enduring, compassionate, provider and protector. That’s the significance of this title. It’s not that Jesus is God the Father, or that there’s any kind of blurring of distinctions, and certainly the prophet Isaiah is not teaching the heresy of modalism, the heresy that does blur the distinctions between the persons of the Trinity and says that sometimes God shows up as Father, other times as Son, other times as Spirit. No, no. This title is pointing out, this name is pointing out that the promised Messiah is to be one who is the enduring, compassionate, provider and protector of his people. But another powerful name that the promised Messiah is given, this one who is fully human as well as fully divine, is the title, Prince of Peace.

And that should raise the question in your mind as a discerning Bible reader, well, peace with whom? In what sense is he the prince, that speaks to royalty obviously, but in what sense is he the prince of peace? Peace between whom? Well, friends, the Bible makes it clear that in our fallenness, not only are we at war with God, not only are we at enmity with God, but God is at war with fallen humanity. We need to be reconciled to God and God, the Holy One, needs to be reconciled to us. And God has taken the initiative in sending the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, to provide and accomplish peace between himself and us sinners. This reminds me of what the apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 verse 1 and following, where Paul writes, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, that is, declared righteous in God’s sight through faith in Christ alone, since we have been justified by faith, we have what?

We have peace with God, but how do we have peace with God? Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through the one who himself is the Prince of Peace. You see, friends, by his saving work, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, makes it possible for us sinners to be restored to a right relationship with God, a relationship of peace with God. Jesus brings peace with God and peace with our fellow believers, for if we are in Christ, we are at least in principle at peace one with another, and that peace, that will be fully manifested in the new heavens and the new earth, but that’s something that we can even now experience, at least at a prototypical level here in this present age. My friends, as the God man, Jesus of Nazareth fulfills this wonderful messianic prophecy perfectly, and let me ask you, is this the Jesus that you worship?

Is this the Jesus that you believe in, that you trust in? The reason I raise that question, my friends, is that only this Jesus, this child who was born, this son who was given, this Jesus who is the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, only the Jesus revealed in the Bible can save you from your sins, can make you right with God, and can bring you, by his grace, to heaven. Is this the Jesus that you trust in? The liberal Jesus, who most liberal theologians believe that Jesus was perhaps a God-intoxicated man, a God-endwelt man, but they reject his deity as the God man. The liberal Jesus cannot save you. The liberal Jesus will leave you dead in your trespasses and sins. The Mormon Jesus cannot save you. The Jesus of Islam, who they believe to be certainly a prophet of God, but certainly not the son of God.

The Muslim Jesus cannot save you. The only Jesus who has the power to save sinners is the one who is both true God and true man in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you trusting in this Jesus, the Word made flesh, the living Word made flesh, who came to dwell in our midst, our Emmanuel, the God-man who lived for us, who died upon the cross to pay the penalty for sin, and who rose from the dead for our justification? Is this Jesus your Jesus? Only this Jesus, only this promised messianic King and Lord has the power to save you. Believe in him and repent today. But we learn here not only of the person of the Messiah, we learn very briefly about the rule of the promised Messiah, and his rule is certainly indicated in verse 6, where it speaks about him having a government, the government shall be upon his shoulder.

That indicates that he is royalty, that he reigns, but then it is brought out more explicitly in verse 7, where it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be, excuse me, there will be no end. On the throne of David, remember Jesus the Messiah, he is great David’s greater son, with respect to his humanity, he is of the house and lineage of King David. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, and then to give us assurance that this will be accomplished, that this prophecy will come to pass. We read these words, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, we’re told.

Dear ones, this reminds us of the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, as he is revealed in the scriptures to be. He is Lord over all. Now he is Lord over all with respect to his divine providence, in his divine providence, in his providential kingdom, if you will, he does indeed reign over all of creation and all of nature and all of the nations and peoples of humanity, whether they recognize him or not, whether they believe upon him or not. With respect to his providential reign, Jesus our Lord rules over all peoples and all nations. Indeed as Jesus said in the great commission, all authority in heaven and on earth, in other words universal authority, has been given to me. But as messianic king and savior, he rules over all things, why?

For the sake of his elect church and in his kingdom, his kingdom being his reign of grace and salvation, he rules over his church, visible and invisible, and he graciously reigns in the hearts and lives of us, his children. His government increases, his spiritual kingdom, if you will, increases how? Well not by our efforts or works, but his government increases by the grace of God as the gospel goes forth and as sinners through sovereign grace are brought to faith in Christ as their savior and come to submit to him by faith as their Lord and King. His kingdom, his government also increases as gospel preaching churches which hold to the scriptures as their sole and supreme rule of faith and practice are established. I’m reminded of one of our Lord’s kingdom parables. The kingdom of God is indeed a mysterious thing, but Jesus illustrates the nature of his kingdom through his kingdom parables and in Matthew 13 verses 31 to 33, let me just read that to you briefly, Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 to 33, he gives the following kingdom parables.

He says this, he put another parable before them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. He told them another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened. Now there’s much to be said about those kingdom parables, but in these kingdom parables our Lord teaches that his spiritual kingdom, his kingdom of grace and salvation grow gradually and they grow extensively. They start small like a mustard seed. And you ever tried to watch a seed grow into a plant or into a tree?

You can’t perceive the growth, but the growth happens gradually over time and extensively just like the leaven that is worked in extends to the whole lump. My friends, the kingdom of God is growing, but it grows gradually and extensively, but usually imperceptibly. And that should encourage us because sometimes it seems like we’re just, we’re just worshiping the Lord and we’re sharing his gospel and we’re seeking to be faithful to him as a congregation and we wonder where’s the kingdom growth? But the word is powerful and it will accomplish all that the Lord ordains for it to accomplish. Friends, our faithful covenant God has sovereignly decreed that this will be so. That’s why he says the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This is our confidence in the church’s missionary and evangelistic task.

The Lord of hosts will accomplish this. So let us trust in him. If God has purposed it, he will accomplish it. We can be assured that his holy zeal will cause it to be accomplished in his timing and according to his sovereign decree. Let me leave you, dear friends, with this question. Has Christ’s kingdom been established in your heart and life? Is Jesus Christ your Lord? And as a church, is Jesus Christ our Lord? We confess him as our Lord. May we continue by the grace of God to walk together as his disciples in submission to his Lordship. Dear ones, during this traditional Advent season, when we reflect upon the incarnation and birth of our Lord, let us remember that this Messiah child who is born, this son who is given is none other than both God and man.

The word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. This Advent season and throughout the coming new year, may we worship him. May we rejoice in him. May we serve him with all that is in us and with out of gratitude for his gift of salvation to us. And let us, beloved, join in spreading the good tidings of great joy. For by God’s grace, we have seen a great light with the eyes of faith. We have seen, brothers and sisters, Jesus, the light of the world. With the help of God, let us shine his light and spread his cheer both now and in the coming year. Amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, once again, we do praise and thank you, Lord God, that in Christ we have a perfect, all-sufficient Savior. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were willing to leave your glory in heaven, your throne in heaven, to be clothed in our humanity in order to live for us, to die for us, and to rise for us, and to bring us with you into the glories of your Father’s presence.

We would ask, Lord, that this season we might not only reflect upon these glorious truths, but that we might bear faithful testimony to them in our hearts and in our church. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people’s said, amen. Friends, as we close our time today, let’s rise and sing as our hymn of response, number 292, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.

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.

December 15, 2024
To the Teaching!

About this sermon

The Lord tells Isaiah to bind up the testimony and seal the teaching among his disciples while he waits for the Lord. When people say, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” God’s people must answer: should not a people inquire of their God? “To the teaching and to the testimony!” Deuteronomy 18 forbids divination, sorcery, and consulting the dead. Those who reject God’s word have no dawn; they wander hungry and enraged, looking up and down and seeing only darkness. God’s word is unchanging and clear, and it alone gives light.

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Sermon transcript

We return to the book of the prophet Isaiah and my sermon text today is Isaiah chapter 8 verses 16 through 22. Isaiah chapter 8 verses 16 through 22. You’ll find that on page 680 in your Pew Bible. To fill out the context a bit, I will begin reading at verse 11 and read to the end of the chapter. But again, our focus will be on verses 16 through 22. This is the word of God. Let’s hear it with reverence and awe. 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 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. And many shall stumble on it, they shall fall and be broken, they shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God?

Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. Dear friends, 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. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that you have given to us these God-breathed scriptures, that you have given to us your word, that you have clearly communicated to us.

But we recognize, Lord, our need for the illumination of your Spirit, that we might understand your word and how it applies to us. And so we would ask, O Lord, that by your Spirit, you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. And we pray that by the sovereign work of your gracious Spirit, you would cause your word to find a lodging place in our souls. And Lord, we ask that you would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that which is faithful to your word. We ask, Lord, that you would use me, your unworthy servant, to declare your word. And we would pray, Heavenly Father, that we might receive your word, embrace it, assimilate it, and live out the implications of it in our daily lives.

We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people’s said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, To the Teaching. And if you have your sermon outline, you’ll notice, and I suggest that children can listen for some or all of these words in my sermon today. The key words for my sermon are the words, trustworthiness, superstition, revelation, darkness, and light. Well, my dear friends, life is confusing today, isn’t it? Dear ones, we find ourselves living today in a deeply confused, and indeed a deeply confusing age. Every day, for example, through various means such as social media, every day we find ourselves confronted with a multitude of conflicting and often contradictory voices, a multitude of conflicting ideas and ideologies, all of which seek to grab our attention, all of which seek to gain our interest, and ultimately to win our allegiance.

So much so that it can sometimes feel like we’re drowning in an ocean of conflicting information and contradictory truth claims. Just to give you an example, perhaps you felt this way during the recent presidential election season, which mercifully has finally come and gone. It wasn’t too long ago, however, you’ll remember, that you and I had to endure a barrage of political information and political ads being crammed down our throats on a daily basis, ads and information in your mailbox, ads and information in your email inbox, ads and information conveyed on the radio, on your television screen, in your social media, on your favorite podcasts, on your favorite news websites and newspapers, and so on and so forth. I mean, it was ubiquitous, it was everywhere, and it was hard to avoid even if you wanted to avoid it.

It was an exhausting and confusing experience as political candidates and their campaigns confronted us with their endless and conflicting claims and counterclaims, claims and counterclaims which, of course, were usually laced with a toxic combination of ad hominem personal attacks and nasty juvenile innuendo, all designed to denigrate and demonize their political opponents in the hopes of winning your vote. I mean, what would American politics be without nastiness, personal attacks, and appeals to rage? Well, friends, it’s in a world filled with so many different and contradictory ideas, so many different and conflicting worldviews, philosophies, ideologies, and religions. Where can we turn to get the actual, real truth? Where shall we go to ground and to center ourselves in reality, not just the reality that we see in the media, but the reality that we see on an earthly plane, but the reality that serves as the bedrock and foundation, the ultimate foundation of all reality, namely, ultimate transcendent reality?

Where do we find a firm and solid rock foundation upon which to build our faith, our lives, our families, and our future? Well, as the Holy Spirit through the prophet, Isaiah, and his disciples tells us in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning in verse 20, to the teaching and to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. Now, friends, remember the historical setting of our passage. King Ahaz, the Judean king, and the people of Judea, and the people of Judea, and the people of Judea, and the people of our passage. King Ahaz, the Judean king, and the people of Judea as a whole, had sadly, tragically, rejected the word of Yahweh, their God, which had come to them through the prophet, Isaiah. The evidence of this rejection of the Lord and of his word was their lack of trust in the Lord’s promise to deliver them from the military threat from their neighbors to the north, namely, the northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Aram, or Syria.

Instead of trusting in the Lord’s promise of deliverance, King Ahaz and his people had turned to the king of Assyria for help against this military threat. Instead of trusting in Yahweh, the Lord, the true and living God, they trusted in the military might of a pagan king and a pagan people who worshiped lifeless idols. Do you see the contrast there? They turned away from trusting the living God and his absolutely trustworthy promises, and they turned instead to worshipers of lifeless idols, false and deceptive deities. Now, in response to this rejection from Ahaz and his people, the wording of our passage for today has often been interpreted as suggesting that at this particular point, Isaiah withdrew from his public ministry for a time in order to focus his attention on teaching and instructing and ministering to the faithful remnant among the people of Israel, who are described here in this passage as Yahweh’s disciples.

And that brings us to our passage for today. And let us turn our attention first of all to verses 16 through 18, and let us consider the unchanging trustworthiness of God’s word, the unchanging trustworthiness of God’s word. It says in verse 16, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Sinai. Now, in verse 16, Isaiah uses the words, the terms testimony and teaching. To what are these terms referring? Are they referring, for example, to the testimony that was spoken of back in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 8?

Let’s go back to those verses. We read in those verses the following. Then the Lord said to me, take a large tablet and write on it in common characters belonging to Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Now, what does that mean? That’s one of Isaiah’s sons. Meher Shalal Hashbaz means, it means speed the spoil, hasten the booty. It is a symbolic name that the Lord instructed Isaiah to give his son as a testimony to the people that indeed judgment and exile was coming, and also that the Lord would deliver the people from the military threat from Syria and Israel. And I will get reliable witnesses, verse 2, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberrikayah to attest for me. Is this the testimony and the teaching that was to be sealed up until what the word of the Lord said would be fulfilled?

Or are these terms testimony and teaching, are they referring to the words and signs that the Lord had delivered to the people through Isaiah? Well, in the context of our passage for today, this latter interpretation makes the most sense, contextually speaking. God’s word as revealed to the people through the prophet Isaiah is particularly in view here, especially as that word predicted the Lord’s deliverance of Judah from the military threats from Israel and Syria, and also the predictions of judgment that the Lord had threatened against those who rejected him and rejected his word. But friends, in a broader sense, in a broader sense, this refers to God’s word as a whole. These terms can refer together to the entirety of the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, and not merely to the Lord’s word given through the prophet Isaiah.

Now, these two terms are, of course, synonymous terms, and they’re closely connected, although they are referring to the word of God through a slightly different angle, from a slightly different angle. But, of course, God’s word is rich and multifaceted, so the Scriptures use different terms to describe themselves. The Bible is referred to, and we see that, for example, in Psalm 119, where God’s word is referred to as law, as precepts, as testimonies, and so forth. As Matthew Henry suggests in his commentary, as a testimony, it, the word of God, directs our faith. As a law, it directs our practice, in other words, how we live our lives as followers of the Lord, and we ought both to subscribe to the truths of it and to submit to the precepts of it. Isaiah’s description here of God’s word as both testimony and teaching, or it could be translated as law, the Hebrew term is Torah.

Isaiah’s description of the word of God as testimony and Torah, or teaching, law, reminds me of the answer of Shorter Catechism question three. The question is, what do the Scriptures principally teach? And I know some of you know the answer to that question. The Bible-based answer is that the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. In other words, dear ones, Scripture reveals both testimony and teaching, or law. It reveals doctrine and duty. It reveals theology and ethics. It tells us what we are to believe about God and also how we are to live faithfully for God. And so that is what is in view here when we read of, in verse 16, of the testimony and the teaching. And what is Isaiah to do with this testimony and teaching?

The Lord instructs him, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. Now, some understand this language to mean that Isaiah’s students or disciples were actually to bind up or seal a scroll of Isaiah’s prophecies until the predictions of Isaiah’s words about the defeat of Israel and Syria by the kingdom of Assyria came to pass. And that would come to pass in relatively short order. Now, this would clearly show Isaiah that Isaiah was indeed a true prophet of God. For one of the criteria of being a true prophet of God is that if you made a prediction about the future, that prediction would come to pass if you were a true prophet. If you made a prediction and it didn’t come to pass, well, that would show you to be a false prophet. I don’t know about you folks, but I remember back in the last election, back in 2020, that there were some alleged or professing contemporary prophets who predicted that Donald Trump would win the election in 2020.

And, of course, he didn’t. And so those individuals and then those prophets and prophetesses would sort of tweak their predictions or what have you. But the very fact that they made a prediction that didn’t come to pass shows that they were in fact and are in fact false prophets or prophetesses. And so, friends, Isaiah had made a prediction. The Lord would deliver Judah from the military threat given by Israel and Syria. And he was to seal up the testimony until that time, bind it up, seal it up. And the very fact that this came to pass testifies to the truth that Isaiah was indeed a true prophet of God, that the word of the Lord truly came through Isaiah the prophet. But this binding and sealing up of the testimony would also demonstrate that God’s word is unalterable.

It’s unalterable. It’s unchanging. If it’s bound up, it cannot be altered. It cannot be changed. As one commentator says, this written record was literally sealed, possibly in the presence of witnesses, so that it could not be altered. In any case, friends, this language points to the fact that God’s revealed word, his God-breathed, inspired, infallible, authoritative word, his word is unalterable, his word is unchanging, and thus it is entirely trustworthy. That’s why the Scriptures repeatedly warn us as God’s people, neither to add to nor take away from God’s word. We have some very stern warnings. For example, if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 32, we read the following words in Deuteronomy 12, verse 32. The Lord through Moses the prophet says, everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do, you shall not add to it or take from it.

Or think of the very last chapter of the New Testament in Revelation, chapter 22, verses 18 and 19, as the Bible closes with this warning. Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19, I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. A very solemn and somber warning not to add to or take away from the word of God. And so the law and the testimony, the word of God given through the prophet Isaiah is to be bound up and sealed. And bound up and sealed where or to whom?

Well, bind up the testimony and seal the teaching among my disciples. Now, one of the keys to good Bible interpretation is to ask good questions. What’s the question that should come to our minds as we read these words? Well, the question that should come to our minds is among whose disciples? Whose disciples are being referred to? Is Isaiah referring to his disciples, his pupils? Or is he referring to the Lord’s, to Yahweh’s disciples? Well, probably the latter, at least in the ultimate sense. Although in the proximate immediate sense, this may be referring to Isaiah’s students and followers. But Isaiah’s students and followers were among the faithful remnants. And so ultimately they were disciples, followers of Yahweh the Lord. And then it goes on to say in verses 17 and 18 the following. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Sinai. Again, what’s the question that we should ask? The question is, who is the I here? Is Isaiah referring to himself or is this, is Isaiah conveying to us the words of the promised Messiah? Well, Pastor, where do you get that? Where do you get this Messianic interpretation? Well, we get it by comparing Scripture with Scripture. See, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, the Messianic interpretation of this passage clearly seems to be the correct one. Dear ones, we must remember that the Spirit of Christ, in other words, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Messiah, the Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Testament prophets. We learned this.

This is implied, for example, in passages like 1 Peter, chapter one, verses 10 and 11. Let me just read that to you real quickly. In 1 Peter, chapter one, verses 10 and 11, it says, as Peter is speaking about the salvation that the Lord Jesus has won for us as his disciples, it says, concerning this salvation, the prophets, he’s speaking here, I believe, about the Old Testament prophets, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. You see, my friends, all of Scripture, including the Old Testament, is ultimately from Jesus Christ. Christ is the subject of all of Scripture, ultimately, and Christ is also the source of Scripture.

It is His Word. The Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Covenant prophets, even as He spoke through the New Testament apostles. And as we go back to verse 18 of our passage for today, we notice these words, Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts. Now, certainly, Isaiah himself, as a prophet of the Lord, was a sign of both mercy and judgment to the people of God, and the Lord had instructed Isaiah to give symbolic names to his children. We already considered one of those names, Meher Shalal Hashbaz, Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty, but there was also his other son, Shear Jashub, and what does that mean? That means a remnant shall return, and it points to the promise that God would ultimately preserve and return a remnant to Israel.

But nevertheless, the author of Hebrews interprets verse 18 not as a reference to Isaiah and Isaiah’s physical children, Shear Jashub and Meher Shalal Hashbaz, but no, the author of Hebrews interprets this passage as a reference to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 2 and look at verses 11 through 13. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 11 through 13. It says this. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Jesus Christ is our elder brother. We are brothers and sisters in union with Christ, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, these words should be familiar.

Behold, I and the children God has given me. That’s a quotation from Isaiah chapter 8, verse 18. You say, well, what’s the connection? How is it that Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, how is it that he is speaking on behalf of the Messiah here in Isaiah 8, verse 18? What’s the connection? Well, think about it, friends, just as Isaiah and his children with their symbolic names were signs and portents to their contemporaries. So Jesus, the Messiah, and his children, which includes you and me, are signs and portents of judgment and mercy to the world today. We, brothers and sisters, we are signs of judgment and mercy. We have tasted that the Lord is good. The Lord has been merciful to us. And we have opportunity to confess Christ to others.

And as we do, we speak of the Lord’s judgment against sin. We also speak of his mercy in Christ to sinners. We are signs and portents in that sense. So what are some of the takeaways? What are some of the lessons that we can glean from this first point, from what we have considered thus far in our passage for this morning? Well, first of all, friends, let us remember that God’s word is unalterable. And so we are to receive it as it is, neither adding to it nor taking from it, for it is entirely trustworthy. It cannot be changed. So you can base your life on it. You can build your life upon it as a solid rock foundation of truth and grace. Many religions and cults and false philosophies either add to or take away from the word of God.

The Jewish religion takes away from the word of God by rejecting the New Testament Scriptures, rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and the New Testament Scriptures. They accept the Old Testament, which they call the Hebrew Bible, or the Holy Scriptures, but they reject the New Testament. On the other hand, you have religions like Islam and Mormonism, which add to the word of God. We’re told in Hebrews chapter one that in Jesus Christ, God’s final word has come. Christ and his inspired spokesman, his apostles, that’s the final revelation of God. And we have the final revelation in the New Testament Scriptures. So we are not to expect an additional word of God. We’re not to accept the Book of Mormon as it claims to be another testament of Jesus Christ. It isn’t. It is a forgery. It is a falsehood.

Same thing with the Koran, written hundreds of years after the New Testament was penned. In Christ, God’s final word has come to us, and his word is unalterable. It is reliable. You can bank on it. Another lesson that we learn from our passage. You know, some look to the Bible merely as a textbook or a resource of doctrine and theology. And certainly there’s much doctrine, much theology in the Bible. But this book is not a systematic theology textbook. It gives us truth and revelation that we use to build a biblical systematic theology from. But the Bible is not merely a textbook of theology. Others look to the Bible as a book of moral guidance and ethics. Sort of like a divinely inspired Aesop’s Fables or what have you. But friends, it’s not one or the other.

It’s actually both. It is both testimony and law or teaching, Torah. It is doctrine and ethics. It is gospel and law. It’s not one or the other. It’s not either or. It’s both and. And so let us search the scriptures to learn both what we are to believe about God and his amazing plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. But let us also search the scriptures to learn how we are to live as followers of Jesus Christ out of gratitude for God’s gift of salvation to us in Jesus. So let us remember the Bible teaches what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. It teaches testimony and teaching. Another lesson here is that as the Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, let us remember that Christ is at the heart and center of all of Holy Scripture.

Christ is revealed in all of scriptures. In some places he’s revealed more clearly and directly than others, but all of the Bible ultimately points to and is fulfilled in and has as its content the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so let us always be sure to read and study the scriptures in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. That includes the Old Testament scriptures. As it has been said, the Old Testament prepared the world for Christ. The Old Testament points forward to Christ and prepares the world for the coming of Christ. The New Testament reveals him in his fullness. And so children, I know I’ve said this before, but what that means is that when you read the Bible, especially when you read the Old Testament, you need to read it with your Jesus glasses on.

You need to ask what is this teaching me about Jesus? How is this preparing the world for Jesus? How is this pointing to Jesus our Savior? Now that brings me to my next point. We’ve been talking about the unalterable trustworthiness of the Word of God. But Isaiah’s contemporaries had a problem, many of them, in that instead of turning to their God and His Word, they turned to pagan gibberish and superstition. And so as we look at verses 19 and 20, consider next the gibberish of pagan superstition versus the clarity of divine revelation. The gibberish of pagan superstition versus the clarity of divine revelation. It says in verse 19, And when they say to you, Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, Should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

To the teaching and to the testimony. If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. You see, friends, instead of seeking the light and clarity of divine revelation as revealed in God’s Word and through the prophets like Isaiah, many of Isaiah’s contemporaries were seeking guidance from other sources, namely from the occult. In particular, from pagan mediums and necromancers who sought to communicate with the dead. Now does the Bible look with smiles upon such practices? Of course not. The Bible sternly forbids and prohibits God’s people from such superstitious pagan practices. In fact, the Bible describes, the Torah describes such practices as an abomination. Turn with me if you would to Deuteronomy 18 and let me just read verses 9 through 12 of Deuteronomy chapter 18. And here the Holy Spirit through Moses addresses us as the people of God.

And it says this beginning at verse 9. The Lord instructs his people, when you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. And then he gives some examples. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. The practice, the horrible barbaric practice of child sacrifice was very common in the ancient Near East and among Israel’s neighbors. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or daughter as an offering. Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or look at verse 11. Or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead. It’s pretty clear there, God doesn’t want his people doing that.

For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God and so forth. So instead, think about it friends, instead of seeking truth and guidance from the true and living God, they were seeking guidance and urging Isaiah and his followers to seek guidance from necromancers and mediums who chirp and mutter. This may be a reference to the kind of hushed tones that mediums and necromancers used in supposedly conveying a message from the spirits of the dead. In any case, instead of seeking truth and guidance from the spirits of the dead, should not God’s people seek guidance from God himself, the true and living God and from his word? And the answer of course is yes, as Isaiah says in verse 20, to the teaching and to the testimony.

He doesn’t say to the necromancers and to the mediums, but no, to the teaching and to the testimony. And then he says, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. To the word of God, not to the supposed words of the spirits of the dead. And those who speak according to the spirits of the dead, they have no dawn. In other words, they have no light of divine revelation, or it could possibly mean they have no light of salvation. Oh, Church of God, consider what an immense privilege it is to have what Matthew Henry calls the invaluable treasure of divine revelation. Beloved, we are not left in this sin-cursed world with the spiritual resources of mere human speculations or vain superstitions or mere guesswork. Instead, our amazing, gracious God has spoken.

He has blessed us by entrusting to us his divine oracles, the priceless treasure of divine revelation. And so, with Isaiah, we say to the teaching and to the testimony, to the word of God. Dear listener, do you treasure the Scriptures? Has the Spirit of God sealed the word and truth of God in your soul? And so, dear ones, first of all, let us treasure the word of God, for it is indeed a treasure worth more than mountains of gold. And, dear ones, let us internalize the word. We do so by reading and meditating upon it and by attending upon the faithful preaching and teaching of it as you are seeking to do today. Let us also guard the word of God from corruption by being devoted to maintaining sound doctrine and by neither adding to nor taking away from it.

And also, let us propagate the word of God. We do so through covenant nurture by raising our covenant children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as we teach them the word of God and we catechize them. We raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We also propagate the word to those outside of the covenant community through missions and evangelism. So let us treasure the word of God, let us internalize the word of God, let us guard the word of God, and let us propagate the word of God. But sadly, not everyone who hears the word believes it. Many reject it. And so, as we wrap up our time in the Scriptures today, I would present to you as my final point based on verses 21 and 22. Let us consider the gloomy darkness of those who reject the Lord and the light of his word.

The gloomy darkness of those who reject the Lord and the light of his word. It says in verse 21, They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. Isaiah here under the Spirit’s inspiration describes the darkness that would engulf his contemporaries who had rejected Yahweh and rejected his word of deliverance. You know, it’s interesting that those who persistently harden their hearts against the Gospel, against the word of God, those who persistently harden themselves against it and reject the Lord and his word will often rage against the Lord when they begin to feel within themselves and to experience the effects of his judgment.

But they have no one to blame but themselves. Dear listener, have you received and accepted the word of God? Do you accept the word, the message of the Gospel? Or are you yet walking in spiritual darkness, rejecting the word of the Lord, rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hardening your heart against it? Oh, be warned, be warned lest you end up being thrust into thick darkness, the darkness of God’s judgment. Run from the darkness to the light of Jesus Christ and his Gospel word. Jesus is the light of the world and he promises light, forgiveness, salvation to all who turn to him in faith and repentance. Turn to Christ who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that whoever, whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life.

Run from the darkness, run into the light of Christ who himself is the light of the world. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we do indeed praise you and thank you, O God, for the light of your word. We thank you, Lord, for the testimony and the teaching. And we pray, O Lord, that in this age that tempts us to turn to other sources for upon which to build our lives, help us to remember that it is on Christ the solid rock we stand, that we are to build our lives upon the rock of Christ and his word. Give us the grace, O Lord, always to return to the law and to the testimony. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen. As Isaiah’s contemporaries, we’re told to look forward to the promised Messiah.

So in this season, let us look forward to celebrating the birth and coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Let’s rise and we’ll sing as our closing hymn, number 300, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, 300.

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.

December 1, 2024
A Sanctuary, or a Snare?

About this sermon

God warns Isaiah not to walk in the way of the people, nor to call conspiracy what they call conspiracy, nor to fear what they fear. Instead he is to honor the Lord of hosts as holy and fear him. The Lord becomes a sanctuary for those who trust him, but a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, and many will fall on that stone and break. Peter applies these words to Christ: he is a refuge to those who believe and a stumbling stone to those who reject him.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word as we continue our consideration of various passages in the book of the prophet Isaiah. This morning we come to Isaiah chapter 8, and I’ll be focusing on verses 11 through 15 of Isaiah chapter 8. You’ll find that passage on page 680 in your Pew Bible. I’m going to begin reading at verse 1 and read through verse 15 to fill out the context. But friends, this is the Word of God. Let us hear it with reverence and awe. Isaiah chapter 8 verses 1 through 15. Then the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters belonging to Maher Shalal Hashbaz. And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeber Rekayah, to attest for me. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived in Borosan.

Then the Lord said to me, Call his name, Maher Shalal Hashbaz. For before the boy knows how to cry my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. The Lord spoke to me again, Because this people has refused the waters of Shalua that flow gently and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks. And it will sweep on into Judah. It will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck. And its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Emmanuel.

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered. Give ear, all you far countries. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. 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 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.

And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken. They shall be snared and taken. Dear friends, 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 gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that you have spoken to us and that you have given us in the Holy Scriptures, your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. You have given to us guidance and you have given to us a sure and certain word that we can build our lives and eternity upon. We would ask, O Lord, that you would give us grace and wisdom and insight as we consider this portion of Holy Scripture. We pray that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word.

And we ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful in your sight, Lord God. We ask these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people’s said. Amen. You may be seated. Dear friends, the title of my sermon this morning is A Sanctuary or a Snare. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, I’d encourage the young people to listen for these following words. The words walk, fear, rock, refuge, offense, and faith. Well, dear friends, as a Bible-believing church, one of the important principles that we emphasize here at Grace Church is the importance of reading and interpreting passages of the Bible within their broader literary and historical context. You see, friends, understanding and interpreting Bible passages within their own context instead of yanking verses out of their context is essential when it comes to rightly handling the Word of God and learning sound Bible doctrine.

You see, sound Bible doctrine requires careful contextual Bible reading and study. One of the characteristics of unsound Bible teachers such as, for example, cult leaders is that they will often quote verses of the Bible completely out of context and use out-of-context quotes from Scripture to support their false doctrines or their erroneous teachings. But when it comes to sound Bible interpretation, as the saying goes, and I’m sure some of you have heard this before. It might sound trivial, but it’s not. The saying is a text without a context is what? A pretext. I know you’ve heard it before. You may be thinking, well, pastor, what are you talking about? And how does this relate to the passage we’re considering this morning? Well, let me just offer you a few examples of what I mean about quoting passages out of context and misusing the Scriptures.

Let’s say that I’m ministering to someone who’s been diagnosed with a terminal disease. And so I pay this individual a pastoral visit in the hospital. And let’s say that in seeking to encourage and comfort this individual, I decide to quote some Scripture to them. And let’s say I quote from Genesis 3 verse 4. That verse, part of that verse says this, you will not surely die. Now, what if I came to this individual that I’m visiting and I say, look, hear what the Word of God says. The Bible says in Genesis 3 verse 4, you will not surely die. And I use that as a means of trying to comfort this individual. Is there any problem with that? I mean, after all, that’s part of the Word of God, isn’t it? God’s inerrant, infallible Word.

Well, the problem with that particular quote is that it is quoted out of context. The problem is that Genesis 3 verse 4 is a passage that records the words that Satan spoke to Eve in order to tempt her to eat of the forbidden fruit. In other words, it is a divinely inspired inerrant record of a satanic lie. The words themselves are a lie, but they are recorded faithfully in the Scriptures for our instruction. Yanking that statement out of its context and using it to try to bring pastoral comfort would be a total misuse and a gross misapplication of God’s Holy Word. Or to give a more extreme example, and some of you may have heard this before, and I’m not sure if this is a true story or if it’s apocryphal, probably the latter, but let’s say that there’s a young man who has to make a really important decision, but he wants to make sure that he’s being led by God in his decision.

So he says, Lord, I want you to show me from Scripture what I’m supposed to do. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to close my eyes and drop my Bible on the table and put my finger on the Bible, on a Bible verse, and then open my eyes, and that’ll be your guidance to me. And so the man does that. He takes his Bible. He prays for the Lord to show him what he is supposed to do. He lets his Bible drop on the table. He puts his finger with his eyes closed on a verse of the Bible, and he opens his eyes, and lo and behold, what does he see? He sees the verse that says, Judas went and hanged himself. Let’s say he says, okay, maybe, Lord, I didn’t get this right, so let’s try it again.

So again, he prays. He closes his eyes. He drops his Bible on the table. He puts his finger on a verse of the Bible without looking, then he opens his eyes. And what verse does he put his finger on? Go and do likewise. So we see there, friends, the reason, beloved, that I belabor this here at the front end of my sermon is to make the point that when we are studying challenging parts of the Bible, such as the prophetic books, like the book of the prophet Isaiah, it’s especially important to read passages carefully and within their historical and their textual context. And when we read books like Isaiah, if the modern Bible reader, the typical Christian Bible reader today, will often struggle understanding passages from books like the book of Isaiah because the book of Isaiah assumes that you have a knowledge of the historical circumstances that Isaiah, that the Holy Spirit through Isaiah is addressing.

And so that’s one of the reasons why sometimes in some of these passages I’ve been taking some time and boring you perhaps with some historical background information. But the reason I’m doing that is because I want to rightly handle the word of God and want to make sure that you understand what this passage is saying within its appropriate context. So what was the historical context that Isaiah was addressing here or that the Lord through Isaiah is addressing here in chapter eight? Well, remember, friends, that the date was around 735 BC. At that particular time, King Ahaz was on the throne of the kingdom of Judah. King Ahaz was one of King David’s descendants. He was a Davidic king. But sadly, he was a wicked king. Now, the great kingdom of Assyria to the northeast was seeking to expand its territory.

So all of the smaller kingdoms of that region, including the northern kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim, and this other kingdom known as the ancient kingdom of Syria or Aram, and the kingdom of Judah, all of these kingdoms were under threat from the kingdom of Assyria. So how were these kingdoms seeking to deal with this threat? Well, Israel and Syria, Judah’s neighbors, sought to meet this threat by entering into a military alliance against the kingdom of Assyria. But King Ahaz and Judah had refused to enter into their military alliance. So Syria and Israel had threatened to attack Judah, depose King Ahaz, and put a puppet king in his place who would bring Judah into their military alliance against the kingdom of Assyria. Now, the Lord through the prophet Isaiah had come to King Ahaz and had called upon Ahaz not to fear this military threat from their neighbors, the kingdoms of Assyria and the northern kingdom of Israel.

However, instead of trusting in the Lord, and instead of trusting in the Lord’s promise of deliverance from Syria and Israel, instead of trusting the Lord, what does King Ahaz do? He turns away from the Lord of Hosts, the divine king of Israel, he turns away from the Lord, and he turns to the pagan king of Assyria for help against neighboring Syria and Israel. Now, the Lord had, as we saw in previous weeks, the Lord had begun to address this situation back in chapter seven, and here in chapter eight, he continues to address this situation, and that’s where we find ourselves in our passage for today. And the first thing I want to draw your attention to in verse 11, beloved, is a warning against a faithless walk. What we have here, first of all, and this is the first point on your sermon outline, notice a warning against a faithless walk.

The Lord here warns the prophet Isaiah. It says this, 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. The Lord spoke thus. I don’t know the exact number of times this kind of language is used. I think it’s somewhere around 600 times in the Old Testament alone, we read the words, thus saith the Lord, or the Lord says this, and this is one of those times. God’s signature is found throughout the Holy Scriptures. The Bible claims to be God’s word. The Bible shows itself, evidences itself to be the word of God. It is self-authenticating, and what we have here is another passage of Scripture that reinforces the truth that this is prophetic revelation. This is not stuff that Isaiah made up in his own brain.

This is a message that he has received from the Lord, and again, notice that the term Lord is in all capital letters. What does that indicate? Well, I know many of you know that this indicates. This is the way the English translators indicate that the word for God here, the name for God used here is the name Yahweh, and Yahweh is the Lord’s covenantal name. It has in view God as the gracious covenant-making, covenant-keeping redeemer and savior of his people. The Lord spoke thus to me, but not only did Isaiah receive another message from the Lord that he’s conveying to the people through his writings. He goes on to say, The Lord spoke thus to me with what? With his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people.

Now, focus in on that phrase, with his strong hand upon me. The language here, my friends, speaks of a special divine constraint. Dr. E.J. Young explains it as follows. He says, When this hand of God comes upon a man, that man is completely subject to God’s power. This is not ordinary prophetic inspiration, but a power of God to constrain Isaiah. The seizure was in order to instruct Isaiah so that he would not walk in the way of the people of Judah and bring condemnation upon himself. Another way of saying this is that through this divine constraint, God preserves Isaiah, enabling Isaiah to persevere in the faith and not be like many of his contemporaries who had abandoned their trust in the Lord. And not only that, it says this, that he was warned not to do what?

Well, this strong hand upon Isaiah warned him not to walk in the way of this people. Not to walk in the way of this people. Now, what’s he talking about? What is this language of walking? We often read this kind of language in the scriptures. Well, here the term walk is referring to a way of life. And the Christian life is sometimes described as walking with the Lord. We walk with the Lord. The Christian life is a life of discipleship. It’s a journey of following Jesus throughout our lives, day in and day out. And so when he says, do not walk in the way of this people, he is saying, avoid their way of life. Again, when the scriptures speak of our walk, they usually are not referring to walking in the literal sense. It’s not talking about how you walk, the sense of your gait, such as whether you amble or swagger when you walk or what have you.

No, instead, the image of walking is often used by the biblical authors to describe our manner or way of life. And here the Lord, Yahweh, the faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God of Israel is urging Isaiah not to walk. In other words, not to live or to behave or to conduct himself in the manner of his contemporaries. And how had Isaiah’s contemporaries, his fellow Judahites, how had they been walking? Well, the answer given in scripture is most of them, except for a faithful remnant, most of them had been walking, had been living faithlessly. They had been living in impenitence and unbelief. They had been living in violation of God’s covenant. Instead of trusting in and fearing the gracious covenant Lord who had promised deliverance from the military alliance of Syria and Israel, instead of trusting in the Lord to keep his promise of deliverance, they, like Ahaz their king, had turned away from the Lord.

And they trusted in and feared man instead of trusting in and fearing the Lord. Now, what are some of the takeaways? What are some of the lessons that we can learn from our passage so far? Well, I want to address us as a church corporate. I think we as a church can learn much from passages like this. Brothers and sisters, may we as a church walk, watch our walk. May we watch our walk as a church. Remember, we are a local expression of the body of Christ. We should walk like it. We should behave in the way that we professed to be. We should seek to, in the words of the hymn writer, trust and obey when it comes to our body life together as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that has many, many implications.

But one of the implications for us as a church is that we ought not to rely on worldly gimmicks or worldly methods or worldly fads to do the work of the Lord. We ought not to zealously follow what all of the, what the church planting experts and church growth experts are saying. Now, I’m not saying we can’t learn some practical wisdom from some of those experts. But we must not set our agenda based on worldly ideas or business practices or what have you. We need to instead rely upon the Lord and upon his ordinary, unadorned means of grace. The word, the sacraments, prayer. These are the means that though they are simple and unadorned when they are blessed by the Holy Spirit, they are powerful to accomplish that which God intends for them to accomplish.

So let us as a church watch our walk. But also this speaks to us as individual believers in Christ. As individual believers, let us, beloved, seek to, again to quote from the hymn writer, let us seek to walk with the Lord in the light of his word. Dear listener, let me ask you, do you have a gospel walk? Is your life characterized by a gospel walk? What do you mean, pastor? What is a gospel walk? Well, is your manner of life rooted in and grounded in the good news of Jesus Christ, your Savior? Is your life rooted in your trust in him as your very own Lord and Savior? We are, if you are a believer, if Christ is your Lord and Savior, then you are, as the Scriptures describe it, you are in Christ.

You’ve been identified with him. You are united with him in his death and resurrection. And because of your union with him in his death and resurrection, which is signified and sealed to you in your baptism, you are called upon to die daily unto sin and walk after a new obedience. That means live a new life, a life of discipleship as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that your life, dear listener? Do you trust and obey? If you’re not sure, the Lord Jesus in his word calls you to repent and believe in the good news. Jesus Christ, the God man, was crucified to pay the penalty for sin, and he was raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. So repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, and the word of God says that you will be saved.

And having trusted him for your salvation, begin to live a life of grateful obedience. He has saved you, believer. He has brought you into union with himself. He has promised you that you are safe and secure in him. Out of gratitude for his gift of salvation, seek to live a life that is well-pleasing to him, a life of obedience. But that life of obedience requires that life of faith-filled, gospel-fueled obedience is made possible by the grace of God, and it is only possible in those who exhibit godly fear. And that brings me to my next point as we consider verses 12 and 13. I want us next to consider godly fear or ungodly fear. Godly fear or ungodly fear. Look at verse 12. Again, remember the historical circumstances, and he goes on to say, the Lord goes on to say to Isaiah and through Isaiah, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread.

So this is an example of the Lord saying, avoid ungodly fear, the kind of fear that was exhibited by Isaiah’s unbelieving contemporaries. But who then should we fear? Is there a good sense of fearing? Well, verse 13 answers that in the positive. It says, but the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy, let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Now, verse 12 mentions a conspiracy, and the Lord instructs Isaiah, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. What is the meaning of this conspiracy? What conspiracy is being referred to here? Well, there are different interpretations of that and how to answer that question, even among sound of faithful Bible commentators. Some say that it refers to Isaiah’s counsel to King Ahaz. Remember Isaiah had been counseling King Ahaz to trust in the Lord and not to trust in the King of Assyria.

And that counsel was likely viewed by Ahaz and his court, his royal court as treacherous conspiracy. After all, it had become state policy, royal policy to appeal to the King of Assyria and to oppose that or counsel against that would have been viewed as treacherous. Would have been viewed as a treacherous conspiracy. But others say that in this verse, the conspiracy refers to the alliance between Syria and Israel’s military, that military conspiracy that was being brought against Judah. And I think here, brothers and sisters, that again, remembering the importance of the context, I think in light of the context here, that this latter view is likely the correct one. King Ahaz and the people of Judah, what were they doing? They were fearing and they were dreading the military threat from Syria and Israel instead of trusting in and fearing Yahweh, their God.

They were not believing God’s promise of deliverance brought to them through the prophet Isaiah. They doubted God’s word, they denied God’s word and instead, they feared. They feared with a godless fear. And then verse 13, though, says that there is a good kind of fear. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. You shall set him apart as holy in your hearts, if you will. The Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread. Now notice how the Lord is spoken of here in verse 13. He is referred to as Yahweh of hosts. And though it is not politically correct to say this today, the Bible often refers to the Lord using military language. When it says Yahweh of hosts, the Lord of hosts, who are those hosts?

Sometimes the hosts refer to the hosts of God’s people, the people of God in their military capacity, but oftentimes it refers to the angelic hosts. And certainly the Lord of hosts, he is the divine warrior who is the captain of the angelic hosts. And if the divine warrior who rules and governs and reigns over the angelic hosts has promised deliverance, you can count on his deliverance. And because he is the divine warrior who fights our battles for us, who fights for his people, he alone is to be feared. He alone is to be dreaded. Now it’s interesting that the language here in this particular passage is echoed by the apostle Peter in 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, where Peter, under the Spirit’s inspiration, applies this to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let’s just briefly look there at 1 Peter chapter 3, and let me read verses 14 and 15. We read the following here. But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them. Have no fear of those who would persecute you for righteousness’ sake. Nor be troubled, just like the ancient Israelites, the ancient Judahites, rather, were troubled by the threats from Syria and Israel. They feared with a godless fear. We are instructed not to fear those who threaten us with persecution, nor be troubled. But instead, what are we to do? Verse 15 of 1 Peter 3. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. You see the similar language. Peter is echoing and reflecting upon this passage from Isaiah chapter 8 here. He’s saying, in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.

Set him apart in your hearts, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame, and so forth. Well, friends, we see in this passage, in passages like this, that sometimes the Bible speaks of fear in a positive sense, and sometimes the Bible speaks of fear in a negative sense. We see in passages like this one that there is a good, godly kind of fear on the one hand, but there is also a bad, ungodly kind of fear on the other hand. And what’s the difference? What makes the difference between the fear that is good, the godly fear, on the one hand, and the fear that is bad, ungodly fear?

Well, friends, when we study the scriptures carefully and compare scripture with scripture, we see that the difference is that ungodly fear is a fear that is rooted in unbelief and rebellion against the Lord, whereas a godly fear is a fear that is rooted in faith and trust and reverence for the Lord. Ungodly fear is that unbelieving dread and terror that drives us sinners away from the Lord. An example of that kind of fear is the kind of fear that Adam and Eve experienced when they had eaten the forbidden fruit. They hid themselves, and when they realized what they had done, what did they do? They ran away from the Lord. They sowed, you know, they tried to cover themselves in fig leaves. The work of their own hands they tried to cover themselves with, their own works.

And they hid when they heard the Lord coming in the cool or the spirit of the day to confront them. They hid from the Lord. They ran away from the Lord. When they fell and sinned, they didn’t go back to the Lord and say, Father, we messed up, have mercy on us. They ran away from the Lord because they were they were possessed at that time of an ungodly fear that drove them away from the Lord. But godly fear is that sense of holy reverence and awe, that sense of reverence and awe that trembles with joy before the Lord, that trusts in his promises, that rejoices in his truth, and that dreads above all things, displeasing our loving Heavenly Father. If you are characterized by a godly fear, beloved, then your worst fear, your worst dread would be the fear of displeasing and bringing shame and dishonor upon the name of your loving, gracious Heavenly Father, that Father in heaven who sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for your sins and to rise again to give you the gift of eternal life.

Oh dear listener, let me ask you, do you fear the Lord? And if so, what kind of fear is yours? A godly fear, a fear that reverences and trusts in and delights in the Lord and dreads displeasing your loving Heavenly Father, or an ungodly fear that simply is terrified by the prospect of God’s holy wrath and judgment? We’re told in the Scriptures that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and obviously that speaks to a godly fear, a fear that is rooted in faith. But remember what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. As he speaks and puts this in its broader perspective, he says this, Jesus says, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Praise God, if we are resting upon Christ as our Savior from sin, we need not fear his judgment, for as the Scriptures tell us, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. To be in Christ Jesus is to know Christ as your rock, the rock of your salvation. And that brings me to my final point as we consider verses 14 and 15. We have here the Lord presented either as a rock of refuge or a stone of offense. This is the final point in your sermon outline, a rock of refuge or a stone of offense. We’re told this, and he will become, he, the Lord of hosts, Yahweh of hosts, he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel.

Again, remember in the historical setting here, God’s people had been divided. This was the period of the divided kingdom, so we had the northern tribes, the kingdom of Israel in the north, and then the southern tribe of Judah to the south, obviously. But here they are spoken of as both houses of Israel, as if they are meant to be united. But anyways, it goes on to say, he 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. Jerusalem, again, that’s the holy city, that’s the capital city of the theocracy, that’s the city where the temple of God was, where God, the symbol of God’s gracious dwelling among his people, that’s where that was located. And it goes on to say in verse 15, and many shall stumble on it, they shall fall and be broken, they shall be snared and taken.

Now, verse 14, which mentions that the Lord will become to some, at least, a sanctuary, this implies the theology of the remnant, that there will be a faithful remnant that God preserves even in the midst of an unfaithful generation. But though a faithful remnant in Isaiah’s time would honor the Lord of hosts as holy with a godly fear, as we’re told in verse 13, many others, such as the apostate King Ahaz, trusted in the scheming of man for deliverance rather than the promises of their faithful covenant Lord. For the former, for the faithful remnant, those who trusted the Lord, those who feared the Lord, for the former, the Lord Yahweh would be a sanctuary, a place of safety and refuge. But for the latter group, those who persisted in their impenitence and unbelief, the Lord would be to them a stone of a fence and a rock of stumbling.

The Lord would be a rock that they would stumble over and fall. But not only that, another image is used here in this passage, the Lord would be to such unbelievers, such wicked ones among the covenant community, he would be to them a trap and a snare. Not only would the ungodly stumble over Yahweh their God, in their case the Lord would be a divine hunter, a hunter who would trap and snare them in his holy judgment against him. Again, the apostle Peter, under the Spirit’s inspiration, picks up and echoes the language here, quotes even partially from this passage in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 8, which I read earlier in the service. And let me just read some of these verses again. 1 Peter chapter 2 beginning at verse 4, we read this, as you come to him, he’s speaking of Jesus, as you believers come to Jesus, who is described how?

As you come to him, 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, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. That’s good news. He goes on to say, so the honor is for you who believe, but what about those who do not believe? He goes on to say, for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected, and of course that’s the stone, that living stone is Jesus himself, the rock of our salvation, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Does that sound familiar? That’s taken from our passage for this morning, and he goes on to say, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. My friends, what do we learn here from this passage? Again, there’s many things we can learn, many takeaways, but let me just mention a few here. We learn here, beloved, that the Lord will be to us either a rock of refuge if by sovereign grace we trust him for our salvation, or he will be to us a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling in the case of those who reject him and remain in unbelief and impenitence. He will be either a sanctuary or a snare. May he be to us, brothers and sisters, may he be to us our rock of refuge, our sanctuary, or to quote the hymn writer, our shelter in the time of storm.

But how do we again know that we have taken refuge in him? I would leave us with the words of our Lord as recorded at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Let’s turn to Matthew 7, and let me just read verses 24 through 27 of Matthew chapter 7. Jesus says, 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 winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall 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.

Oh, dear listener, may you build your life upon Jesus Christ and his word as the rock of your salvation, lest he become to you a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Believe with your heart, beloved, as we sing together with our lips in just a minute. We’ll sing that wonderful hymn, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. May he be our rock of refuge and not our stone of offense. May we build our lives and indeed our eternal life. May we rest in the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness, grace, and eternal life. And if you build your eternity upon the rock of Christ, you will not be ashamed. You will not be disappointed. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that by the power of your Spirit you would enable us to take our refuge in Christ and Christ alone and not in human works, human wisdom, human scheming.

We thank you, oh Lord, that Jesus is indeed the rock of our salvation. May he be to us a sanctuary and not a snare. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. Let’s close our time together by rising and we’ll sing as our closing hymn of commitment, hymn 459, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, 459.

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November 24, 2024
The Sign of the Virgin Born Immanuel

About this sermon

When Ahaz refuses to ask a sign, the Lord gives one anyway: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The Hebrew word almah and the Septuagint’s parthenos point to a virgin, and Matthew applies the prophecy to Jesus’ birth. The sign speaks of the Messiah’s supernatural origin and of God with us. It also sets out two kingdoms and two destinies: Ahaz trusts Assyria and brings judgment on Judah, while those who trust the promised Immanuel find salvation in him.

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Sermon transcript

Friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah and we find ourselves once again in Isaiah chapter 7. We’ll focus on verses 10 through 17. We began investigating and studying this passage on the last Lord’s Day and mostly focused on verses 10 through 14. Today we especially consider verses 14 through 17, but I’m going to read verses 10 through 25 of Isaiah chapter 7. You’ll find that on page 679 in your pew Bible. Dear friends, this is the Word of God. Let us hear it with reverence and awe. Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz. Ask a sign of the Lord your God. Let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test.

And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria. In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks and on all the thorn bushes and on all the pastures. In that day the Lord will shave with the razor that is hired beyond the river with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep and because of the abundance of milk that they give he will eat curds for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey. In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver will become briars and thorns. With bow and arrows a man will come there for all the land will be briars and thorns and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe you will not come there for fear of briars and thorns but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Dear friends the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of his word. Oh Lord and Father in heaven you are the true and living God and you are a God who has revealed yourself to us. We thank you and praise you Lord that not only have you revealed yourself in your mighty works of creation and providence but that you have revealed yourself in a special and saving way through the mighty works of redemption that you have accomplished and as those works of redemption are recorded for us in your holy word the Bible. We pray that by your spirit as we consider this portion of your word this morning that we would hear the word with reverence and awe that indeed may our listening to the preaching of your word be an act of worship and we pray that by your spirit you would feed our souls through the word today and edify us and build us up in our most holy faith that we might go from this place refreshed and strengthened and equipped to serve you in our daily callings and vocations.

We pray these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said Amen. Your congregation you may be seated. Well the title of my sermon this morning is the sign of the Virgin born in Emmanuel and if you’re following along in your sermon outline I’d encourage the children to listen for these five words the words Messiah, King, Birth, Emmanuel, and Faith. Well dear ones I want to talk for a few moments in introducing this sermon about theological liberalism. Theological liberalism is one of the greatest theological and spiritual cancers that has afflicted the church in the last century century and a half or so. Friends the basic stance of so-called theological liberalism also known as modernism or sometimes known as progressive Christianity the basic stance of that position can be summed up by the statement Christianity is a life not a doctrine.

A more updated way of expressing this perspective is the saying deeds not creeds. Now friends it is true that biblical Christianity is indeed a way of life. Biblical Christianity is not merely going to church on Sunday it’s not merely believing certain propositions as important as those acts. Our true biblical Christianity results in a life of discipleship a life of following Jesus as Lord and Savior but it is not a way of life that is somehow opposed to or divorced from biblical doctrines and Bible based creeds. No my friends true biblical historic Christianity is a way of life that is based upon and rooted in the divinely revealed doctrines and truths that are contained in the Word of God the Holy Scriptures the Bible. As followers of Jesus Christ we confess a creed a creed that is based upon God’s Word and by the grace of God we seek however imperfectly we seek to live out the implications of that creed in our day-to-day lives by living lives of faithful discipleship to the lordship of Jesus Christ our Savior.

In other words friends true historic Christianity is not merely a system of morality and ethics cloaked in a veneer of religious ceremonialism and pious talk which is what it would be if theological liberalism were true. No dear ones genuine Christianity as revealed in the Word of God is a redemptive supernatural religion a religion that is founded upon the saving work of the supernatural divine Son of God our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a life that is grounded upon the doctrines revealed in the Word of God and rooted in our spiritual and saving union with the resurrected and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. My dear listeners this is why consistent theological liberalism is simply not the same thing as Christianity though liberalism disingenuously and falsely claims the name of Christian for itself. As the late Dr.

J. Gressom Machin pointed out in his timely book Christianity and Liberalism and I quote from Dr. Machin he writes Christians stand in a religious relation to Jesus liberals do not stand in a religious relation to Jesus again he’s talking about theological liberals here modernists as we would call them and in talking about the difference between Christianity and liberalism Dr. Machin asks what difference could be more profound than that and he goes on to explain he says the modern liberal preacher reverences Jesus he has the name of Jesus forever on his lips he speaks of Jesus as the supreme revelation of God he enters or tries to enter into the religious life of Jesus but he does not stand in a religious relation to Jesus Jesus for him is an example for faith not the object of faith did you catch that again for the theological liberal Jesus for him is an example for faith not the object of faith the modern liberal tries to have faith in God like the faith which he supposes Jesus had in God but he does not have faith in Jesus my friends one of the ways that the liberal approach to Jesus manifests itself is in the liberal rejection of the supernatural the liberal rejection of the miraculous as it is revealed in the Bible and that leads liberalism and liberals in general to reject fundamental gospel doctrines doctrines such as the deity of Christ our Lord’s miracles and especially his literal bodily resurrection from the dead for the liberal theologian Jesus may be viewed as having a supreme God consciousness some liberals would say that Jesus was the most God intoxicated man or the most God indwelt man but the liberal does not view Jesus as the God man the typical liberal does not view Jesus as the literal son of God incarnate and so our liberal friends dismiss and sometimes even scoff at biblical miracles and you know one of their favorite miracles one of their favorite targets of attack when it comes to their attack against the miraculous is their attack against the miraculous virgin birth of Christ our Savior however here is where our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is so very relevant our passage for this morning is a strong rebuke against theological liberalism and other false doctrines that would deny the supernatural realities revealed to us in the Word of God for in this clear messianic prophecy the prophet Isaiah writing some five hundred more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ the prophet Isaiah writing under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration predicts that the promised Messiah would indeed be born in a supernatural fashion for as verse 14 of our passage tells us behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel so as we dive into our text for today the first thing I want us to consider brothers and sisters is what we learn here about the supernatural origin and birth of the promised Messiah the supernatural origin and birth of the promised Messiah now let me kind of review verses 10 to 13 in fact let me just read again verses 10 through 14 to give us the context here it says this again the Lord spoke to Ahaz this is King Ahaz who was the king of Judah at that particular time and what does the Lord say to King Ahaz verse 11 he gives him a command he gives him an offer of a sign and a command he says ask a sign of the Lord your God let it be deep as shale or high as heaven now how does Ahaz respond to this offer of a supernatural sign the Lord’s saying ask me anything I’ll show you that you can trust my word I’ll show you that my promise that Syria and Israel’s threat against the land of Judah will come to nothing you can ask me to do anything and I will do it and Ahaz in a pretentious act of hypocritical pseudo piety responds and says I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test which is another way of saying I’m not gonna obey you Lord and I’m gonna pretend that I’m pious but my heart has already gone after the king of Assyria and then it says in verse 13 and he said the Lord responds by saying this in verse 13 here then O house of David the Lord is not merely addressing at this point Ahaz as an individual but he addresses the whole house of David and and the you starting in verse 13 is in the plural he’s not just addressing a has but the whole house of a has the whole royal court and indeed as we will see future generations he said here then O house of David is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also the Lord our God is wearied by human unbelief again this is this is a way of saying that that his patience is tried if you will what is the historical setting here of this passage well this prophecy is given by Isaiah during a period of redemptive history of the divided monarchy the northern tribes of Israel had split off from the southern tribe of Judah and the time is around 735 BC when Isaiah delivers this prophecy to King a has at that time you may recall ancient Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel both Judas neighbors had threatened to attack the southern kingdom of Judah because a has the king of Judah had refused to enter into their military alliance against the kingdom of Assyria Assyria was seeking to expand its territory and therefore posed a grave threat to all of the nations that existed at that particular time at that particular region of the world in this passage the Lord is urging a has to trust in him against this threat but regrettably instead of trusting in Yahweh his faithful covenant God to deliver him and to deliver his people from the military threats coming from Syria and Israel a has refuses the Lord’s gracious offer of a sign and instead as other passages of scripture reveal King a has turns away from the Lord the divine King his faithful covenant God he turns away from the Lord and he puts his trust in Tiglath-Pileser the pagan king of Assyria and he calls upon the king of Assyria to deliver him from the threat of Israel and Syria now that leads to the Lord’s response not only in verse 13 where he rebukes a has for his unbelief for his putting the Lord to the test and wearying the Lord if you will but then the Lord goes on to say in these amazing words recorded in verse 14 therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign a has you refuse to ask a sign as the Lord commanded and invited you to do you refuse the Lord but that’s not going to stop the Lord from carrying out his purposes the Lord himself will give you a sign and what is that sign he says behold now that word behold it means pay attention but it also indicates that he’s giving a prophecy of something that is yet to come in the future behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son the Virgin shall conceive how is that possible of course in terms of natural biology that’s not possible but nothing is impossible for the Lord the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name notice by the way the Virgin shall call his name Emmanuel Emmanuel means God with us we’ll talk about that and discuss the significance of that that title soon but this is another evidence that clearly this is speaking of a virgin birth because normally in that time and in that culture the the husband the the man the father would name the son but here the Virgin shall bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel now I want to focus in on the term that is translated here in the English Standard Virgin as virgin but it’s translated in other versions such as the Revised Standard Version as young woman and please bear with me a little bit I need to get a little bit technical but I spoke about theological liberals the beginning of the sermon and how they they attack and deny the supernatural elements of the scripture and I spoke about how one of their favorite doctrines to attack is the doctrine of the virgin birth well one of the reasons that they give for attacking this doctrine is they look at passages like this in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 and they say well actually it shouldn’t be translated as virgin it should simply be translated as young woman that’s how it’s translated for example by the translators of the Revised Standard Version and other versions like that now the Hebrew word behind which is translated as young woman or virgin the Hebrew word is the word Alma and some make the case that this word simply refers to a young woman and not necessarily to a virgin I believe many liberal theologians who reject the virgin birth of Christ would make this argument the argument is made that if Isaiah had actually intended in this verse to refer to an actual virgin then there was a much better Hebrew word available for his use the word Bethulah but as many sound scholars like for example dr.

EJ young have pointed out while the word Bethulah may refer to a virgin it is a word like many words that has a semantic range and the semantic range of that word is such that it can also in some contexts refer even to a married woman in which case it would not be referring to a virgin so the word Bethulah is actually not the best word to use if the Lord is trying to convey through Isaiah that a virgin will conceive and bear a son but on the other hand the Hebrew word Alma which is used in this verse refers yes to a young woman to a maiden but a young woman of marriageable age who is chased and therefore one of the characteristics of such a young woman such an Alma in the Hebrew would be virginity and this fact is recognized not only by sound biblical scholars today you’ll also be interested to know that this fact was recognized by the translators the Jewish translators who translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek language giving us the Septuagint now the Septuagint this Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament when was that version translated well it was translated about 200 years before the birth of Christ and in the Greek Septuagint this Hebrew word Alma was translated by these Jewish translators it was translated by the Greek term Parthenos and Parthenos is a specific Greek term for virgin isn’t that amazing several hundred years before Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary these Jewish translators seeking to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek when they got to Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 they translated the Hebrew term Alma not as young woman but they translated it as virgin so even the Jewish translators of the Septuagint recognized that in this passage Isaiah was speaking of a miraculous virginal conception and birth of the messianic son Emmanuel God with us so indeed I hope I’ve established with clarity and sorry for the technicalities here hope I haven’t weary worried you too much with these technicalities but this is important because skeptics and liberals will often often use this argument that well it shouldn’t really be translated virgin and I’m trying to give you some apologetic ammunition if you ever find yourself in such a conversation with a liberal a liberally inclined theologian or professed believer but in any case what are some of the takeaways what are some of the lessons that we learn from our passage so far well I think one important lesson that we learned brothers and sisters is that in spite of the sin and unbelief of wicked King Ahaz and King Ahaz was indeed a grievously wicked King but in spite of a has his wickedness in spite of his rejection of the Lord in spite of his apostasy God would still keep his promise to send the Messiah and the supernatural sign of the arrival of the promised Messiah would be an extraordinary miraculous birth again as it says in verse 14 behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel friends among other things this glorious fact shows us that even human unbelief does not destroy God’s plan of grace and salvation I’m reminded of what Paul writes he says if we are faithless he remains faithful and we are faithless aren’t we even those of us who believe we fall short and we are of we are those of little faith sometimes our faith is only as a mustard seed but our faithlessness praise God our faithlessness does in no way nullify the faithfulness of our God nor thwart his promise and his plan of salvation so praise be to God for this glorious fact praise be to God for his amazing glorious grace he keeps his word even though we often do not I think this passage also underscores the truth of God’s providential control of history and a predictive prophecy like this is possible only because God is sovereign over history and is working behind the scenes as it were working out his sovereign plan and decree within human history how is it that the Holy Spirit could inspire the prophet Isaiah to see that God would one day hundreds of years in the future cause the Messiah to come and to be born of a virgin how is that possible it’s possible because God is in control of history he is sovereign over history that truth does not in any way negate human responsibility or human actions or what the theologians call secondary causes all of those things are established by God’s sovereign decree we are indeed responsible moral agents but nevertheless no matter what we do for good or for ill in faith or in unbelief no matter what we do God’s plan stands God’s purposes are going forward nothing thwarts or stops his plan of redemption and remember brothers and sisters we have the immense privilege of being part of God’s great story of redemption through the promised virgin born Messiah for why did God send this virgin born Emmanuel into the world why is he called Jesus Matthew 1 21 says that he is called Jesus why Yeshua the Lord is salvation why because he would save his people from their sins if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are part of God’s great story of redemption you and I have a part to play in that the Lord I should say not that we contribute to God’s plan of salvation but that we are the fruits of his grace he has redeemed us he has saved us in spite of our sin in spite of our wickedness in spite of our unbelief he’s brought us to Christ in faith and he’s made us trophies of his grace we brothers and sisters are part of God’s great story of redemption and it’s all made possible because of the promised virgin born Emmanuel but what is the meaning and significance of the virgin that’s what I would have us to consider next as we consider the next section of this passage verses 14 through 16 let’s consider the meaning and significance of the virgin born Emmanuel it will indeed he will indeed come through a supernatural miraculous birth but what will his name be he has given a symbolic name the name Emmanuel verse 14 you shall call his name Emmanuel what does Emmanuel mean it means God with us now isn’t it the case that God has always been with his people is that not the goal and the the end the telos the end of God’s covenant of grace where God says I will be their God they shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of them what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned they were thrust out from God’s gracious say God’s gracious presence they were thrust out of Eden thrust out into the dangerous world outside of Eden but God’s plan of salvation has been such that he is restoring not only restoring us to his favor but he’s restoring his dwelling place in our midst and that was symbolized in the Old Testament in many ways for example it was symbolized oftentimes through miraculous but temporary theophanies which were supernatural signs and miraculous signs of God’s special presence an example of that would be the burning bush you know the story Moses in the wilderness there tending his sheep and he sees this bush that is burning but it’s not being consumed and he goes over to check it out and what does the Lord say to him he says Moses take off your sandals the ground you are standing on is holy ground set apart in that burning bush was the intersection of heaven and earth Moses was going to have a revelatory encounter with God he was going to see and hear a revelation from God and God is assuring him that he has come to dwell in the midst of him to give him his word we also are reminded of God’s dwelling among his people in the Old Testament by the pillar of cloud by day the pillar of fire by night that attended the children of Israel and led the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings in that miraculous cloud and fire that hovered over the tabernacle God was reminding his wilderness wandering people that he was with them he dwelt in their midst but my friends God’s dwelling in the burning bush God’s dwelling in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night is not the ultimate way that God dwells with his people in Jesus Christ in the virgin-born Immanuel God is with us not merely in a theophanic sense not merely in a symbolic sense for the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament were symbols of God’s gracious dwelling amongst his people but no in Jesus Christ our Immanuel God is with us not merely theophanically or symbolically he is with us in the ultimate incarnate sense for friends in Jesus Christ our Lord God is with us in the flesh as the God man he is not merely as the liberals say a God intoxicated man a God conscious man a God indwelt man know he is the God man the word made flesh who came to do what to pitch his tent to tabernacle to make his dwelling in our midst my friends God is indeed with us and we know that this virgin-born Immanuel is divine because later on Isaiah tells us that he is divine skip over to Isaiah chapter 9 and let me read these familiar verses verses 6 & 7 where Isaiah is again giving us a messianic prophecy he is predicting the coming of this virgin-born Immanuel this messianic child and what does he say Isaiah 9 verses 6 & 7 the Holy Spirit through Isaiah says for to us a child is born he’s a real child he’s truly human for us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder so he’s king he is an anointed one a king and his name remember in the Bible your name was a representation of your character of who you actually were his name shall be called what wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace these titles are titles of deity this son this son Immanuel who was to be born was to be God in the flesh and then verse 7 of chapter 9 of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore and you say how is that possible well the Holy Spirit through Isaiah answers that question at the end of verse 7 the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this we have according to the New Testament the fulfillment of the prophecy of our passage for today recorded for us in Matthew’s gospel in Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 to 23 let me just read those verses very briefly to you Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 to 23 here is as Joseph was contemplating putting away Mary because she was with child says this but as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet and then this should sound very familiar verse 23 behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us verse 23 Matthew is quoting of course from our passage for today Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 but as we move on in this passage some struggle to relate verse 14 to the verses that follow in verse 15 for example we read these words he shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse evil and choose the good what is this referring to this this eating of curds and honey is this is this referring to royal food some interpret it that way that the curds and honey you know God promises his people in the Old Testament that he’s bringing them into a land of flowing with milk and honey and so and and this eating of curds and honey may be a symbol of his his royalty as the Messiah but some have also suggested that it indicates desolation in the land that the only thing left for them to to eat is no longer the crops but the curds and the honey and again there’s differences of interpretation in that so this raises the question how do the verses that follow the Emmanuel prophecy of verse 14 how do they fit in with this messianic prediction well I need to confess to you brothers and sisters this is admittedly a tricky passage to interpret and a surface-level reading may seem to suggest that the virgin birth prophecy of verse 14 was expected to be fulfilled in the time of King Ahazor in that general time period of redemptive history some have suggested that this enigmatic passage should be understood as having a double fulfillment for example there is an immediate according to this view there’s an immediate fulfillment in one of Isaiah’s sons such as Shayar Jashub who is mentioned back in verse 3 when when the Lord tells Isaiah to go and and confront King Ahaz and give his word to King Ahaz the Lord says in verse 3 go out to meet Ahaz you and Shayar Jashub your son Isaiah’s son Shayar Jashub that his son’s name had symbolic significance it means a remnant will return and again we have that remnant theology coming out in that in that passage and so they would suggest that when we get into maybe verse 15 or maybe verse 16 we have a different son being referred to a different boy being referred to than the virgin-born Emmanuel well again how do we navigate this difficult passage well a couple and we could spend a long time looking at the various views offered by the scholars but I’m just going to give you a couple of things to keep in mind as you wrestle with this passage first of all friends remember as I mentioned beginning in verse 13 the Lord through Isaiah addresses not just Ahaz as an individual he addresses the house of David and he turned he goes from the singular tense to the plural tense the singular to the plural and so it would seem that starting in verse 13 the Lord speaks to more than merely King Ahaz he instead addresses the King’s court and the wording here implies that at this point in the passage the passage is addressing not just a has this generation but future generations as well and however we might understand the details of verses 15 through 17 we need to understand the general thrust of what the Lord is promising a has through this passage the thrust of this passage is that the threats the military threats that Judah was facing from Syria and Israel those threats would soon pass away not lasting longer than the time it takes for a boy to reach an age of moral consciousness which was generally believed to be around age 12 or 13 when a child reached the age of moral consciousness subsequent biblical history confirms that this was in fact the case since Syria fell to Assyria in 732 BC just a few years after this prophecy and Israel fell to Assyria in 722 BC what about verse 16 goes on to say for before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted because these two kings the kings of Syria and Israel are united together in their military purpose against Judah they are spoken of as being one land but the Lord assures a has that these threats will not last they will not stand but how are we to understand verse 16 I like what dr.

EJ young has to say he writes we should remember that the language of prophecy is filled with mystery and is sometimes obscure it is not simple history written in advance but his language of profound and beautiful symbolism clothed in an aura of mystery who is the boy or this boy as Matthew Henry would suggest is this boy in verse 16 Emmanuel or someone else such as Isaiah’s son Shayer Jashub whose name which meant a remnant shall return also had symbolic significance well again good scholars will differ but I tend to agree with Matthew Henry that the this boy referred to here in verse 16 is in fact Isaiah’s son Shayer Jashub and so if that is the case Isaiah in verse 14 had lifted his vision and put his focus on a long-term prediction of the virgin born Emmanuel but then the Lord brings him back to addressing the immediate threat the immediate situation in the verses that follow but what is the bottom line in all of this as we consider the meaning and significance of the virgin born Emmanuel well but the bottom line brothers and sisters the bottom line dear listeners is what do you make of Jesus who is he is he do you believe him to be the virgin born Emmanuel prophesied by Isaiah here in this passage or do you have some other view of Jesus our shorter catechism in answer to a question 22 gives us a good Bible based answer to the question of who Jesus is it asks how did Christ being the son of God become man the Bible based answer is Christ the son of God became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her yet without sin but that leads us to the last verse of our passage verse 17 where we read these words the Lord again he’s speaking to Ahaz here the Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah that’s speaking of he’s saying to a has into a has his court days of judgment are coming it will be significant days days such as the day when when the kingdom was divided into the northern kingdom of Ephraim and the southern kingdom of Judah and what will cause this this great change what will set in motion this judgment he mentions at the end of verse 17 the king of Assyria my friends the Lord Yahweh the true and living God had urged King Ahaz to trust in him for deliverance from the threat of Syria and Israel but again tragically Ahaz rejected his God and turned instead in apostasy to the pagan king of Assyria for help he trusted in the hand of man rather than the hand of God ultimately the king of Assyria would prove to be an agent of judgment against Ahaz and against Ahaz’s unfaithful people we have an unfaithful king here but there’s another king coming a king who will bring a different destiny the coming of the king of Assyria would mean a destiny of judgment it would be judgment against an unfaithful covenant-breaking people and their apostate theocratic king it would mean the defeat and the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel and it would set in motion events that would do away with the old order of the Israelite theocracy but though the king of Assyria would mean judgments against Ahaz and his people and though this would set in motion events that would eventually result in the ending of the Israelite theocracy and the exile of God’s people from the promised land the end of the old order of the theocracy was not the end of hope it was going to be an end of an era but not the end of hope in fact it would be the beginning of an eternal hope for even though the pagan king of Assyria would come as an agent of judgment against an unfaithful people there was another king coming the messianic virgin-born king the one who would be Emmanuel God with us he is our hope and now that he has come to this earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth our hope rests firm our hope rests secure dear listener is Jesus Christ your hope is he your peace is he your security your salvation oh may you and I find our hope our peace our security and salvation not in the false kingdoms of this world but may we find our security in the true King the ultimate King the Messiah King the virgin-born Emmanuel who is God with us amen let us pray heavenly Father we praise you and thank you Lord God that you have sent Jesus the virgin-born Emmanuel and that in him not only do we dwell in him but he dwells in us and among us by his spirit Lord we would pray that by your spirit you would take what was proclaimed this day we pray that your word would find a lodging place in our and we pray that we would be blessed with your grace as we go from this place in Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said amen let’s respond to what we’ve heard from God’s word by rising and we’ll sing together 279 Oh Christ our King creator Lord 279

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November 17, 2024
If you are not Firm in Faith

About this sermon

Syria and Israel come up against Jerusalem, and the hearts of Ahaz and his people shake like trees in the wind. Isaiah is sent to tell Ahaz to be careful, be quiet, and not fear these two smoldering stumps, for their plan will not stand. The Lord had promised David an everlasting dynasty, and Ahaz’s faithlessness could not undo it. The warning follows: “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” God’s people stand only by trusting his promises.

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Sermon transcript

As we return to our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah, we find ourselves this Lord’s Day morning in Isaiah chapter 7, my sermon text today, Isaiah chapter 7 verses 1 through 9, and that begins on page 678 in your Pew Bible. So dear friends, this is the Word of God. Let us hear it with reverence and awe. In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pecca the son of Ramaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Sheher Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washers field, and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Ramaliah. Because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah has devised evil against you saying, let us go up against Judah and terrify it and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it. Thus says the Lord God, it shall not stand and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin and within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Ramaliah.

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God does indeed endure forever. Shall we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word? Let’s pray. Almighty and most merciful God, our gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you, O God, that you have revealed yourself to us. Not only have you revealed yourself to us in your mighty works of creation and providence but you have also and especially revealed yourself to us in your word and through Jesus Christ our Savior. We thank you for your God-breathed, inspired, infallible word. It is a lamp into our feet, a light into our path, a guide to our way and so we would beseech you God to grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit that we might pay careful attention to your word as we consider this passage from Scripture today and we ask that you would make our minds and our hearts open and receptive to that which the Spirit speaks to us in this portion of your holy word.

We ask these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. Well, as you can see, friends, the title of my sermon this morning is If You Are Not Firm in Faith, and there’s four key words that the young people can be listening for in my sermon today, the words covenant, messiah, promise and faith. Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is set within a very significant period of redemptive history for the covenant people of God. The date was around 735 BC, which was during a period of Old Testament covenant history when the Israelite Kingdom was divided between the northern tribes of Israel whose kingdom was often called either Israel or Ephraim, and the southern tribe of Judah whose kingdom was typically called by the tribal name of Judah.

Jerusalem, the city that housed the great temple of the Lord that had been built by wise King Solomon, was, of course, the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah. And the kingship of Judah belonged to the Davidic dynasty, meaning that the kings of Judah were descendants of the great king of the United Monarchy, King David. David being, of course, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the one whom the scriptures describe as a man after God’s own heart. My friends, the Lord, Yahweh, Israel’s faithful covenant God and gracious Redeemer, had made a solemn covenant promise to King David that his dynasty would last forever. On your own time, you can look up that promise and find it in 2 Samuel chapter 7. But I want to have us turn very briefly to a few verses that are found in Psalm 89, a psalm that recounts God’s covenant promises to King David.

Let’s look at, very briefly, Psalm 89 verses 20 and 21. Psalm 89 verses 20 and 21, the psalmist writes this, I have found David my servant, with my holy oil I have anointed him, so that my hand shall be established with him, my arm also shall strengthen him. And then skip down to verse 28. It says, my steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law, and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes, and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not remove from him my steadfast love, or be false to my faithfulness.

I will not violate my covenant, or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies. Now friends, of course, this covenant promise to David is a promise that is ultimately fulfilled in the person of great David’s greater Son, namely the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Though Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, which highlights our Lord’s divine nature as the Son of God, with respect to our Lord’s human nature, He was a descendant of King David, just as the Scriptures promised that the Messiah would be. Now at this point you may be saying, okay fine pastor, but how does this relate to our passage?

Well friends, the reason why it’s important for us to understand this basic historical information as we consider this passage from Isaiah this morning, is because our passage for today records an international threat that was raised against the Davidic King who was then ruling on the throne of Judah at that time, namely King Ahaz, who as we’re told in verse 1, was the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. This international threat against the Davidic King, King Ahaz, was also a threat against the Davidic dynasty as such. And as a threat against David’s dynasty, it also by implication threatened to overthrow the very covenant promises of God, especially God’s covenant promise to raise up the Messiah from the house and lineage of King David. And as a threat to God’s messianic promises, it was a threat to the very salvation of God’s people.

We need to understand this as we approach this text of God’s holy word. No wonder the Lord says in verse 7 in response to this international threat, no wonder the Lord says, it shall not stand and it shall not come to pass. As one commentator puts it, the attempt to replace his dynasty, David’s dynasty, with another cannot succeed because God’s promises are at stake. And friends, one of the important truths that we glean from this passage of God’s word is that God is always faithful to keep his covenant promises. And that is the foundation and rock of our faith, knowing that in Christ, God’s promises are yea and amen. Because God’s promises are absolutely sure. The Lord calls upon King Ahaz to stand firm in his faith and not to fear, even in the face of this international threat.

And he also warns King Ahaz against not being firm in his trust in the Lord. As it says in verse 4, the Lord says to Ahaz, excuse me, he says, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Romalia. And then at the end of verse 9, the Lord says to him, if you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. As we approach our text from God’s word for today, we note first of all in the first opening verses, the first two verses, we note here a conspiracy against the Lord’s people. And that’s the first point on your sermon outline. We consider today a conspiracy against the Lord’s people.

It says this. Again, Isaiah introducing this new section of his prophecy, his written prophecy with these words, in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, this is the ancient nation of Syria, which was one of Israel’s neighbors, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Romalia, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. And what was the reaction to this news on the part of Ahaz and the house of David, the Davidic dynasty, in other words, and the people of Judah? Well, verse 2 says, when the house of David was told Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

What a picturesque way of describing the fear, the sense of terror that overwhelmed Ahaz. Ahaz, who was supposed to be the covenant leader of God’s people as the theocratic king. Now these verses highlight what biblical historians have come to call the Syro-Ephraimite War, which took place around 734 to 733 BC. The ancient kingdom of Syria, which is also called in some of your translations Aram, Syria and Aram refer to the same national entity, this ancient nation of Syria or Aram joined forces with the northern kingdom of Israel or Ephraim in order to attack Judah, the southern kingdom. Now why did they want to do that? Well the reason they wanted to do that is because there was a threat looming in the region. The mighty Assyrian Empire in the east was looking, as many empires look to do, to expand its territory westward.

And that of course threatened to engulf all three of these kingdoms in the region, namely Israel, Syria and Judah itself. Apparently Syria and Israel had hoped that Judah would join with them in a military alliance to defend the region against the threat from Assyria. But King Ahaz of Judah had refused to bring Judah into their military alliance. So in response to this refusal on the part of King Ahaz, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Ramali, a king of Israel, decided to attack Jerusalem for the purpose of removing Ahaz from the throne of Judah and doing away with the Davidic king on the throne of Jerusalem in order to put a puppet king described in verse 6 as the son of Tabeel in his place on the throne of Judah. A king who would do their bidding and bring Judah into their military alliance against the Assyrian Empire.

So Syria and Israel had come to wage war against Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, because they wanted to force Judah to join them in their military alliance against this Assyrian threat. Now as I’ve already mentioned, the spiritual implications of this would be disastrous for the people of God if Syria and Israel were allowed to get away with their scheme and to succeed in their conspiracy against King Ahaz and against the kingdom of Judah. Now as we learned a few Lord’s days ago when we considered the history of King Ahaz, as we considered a passage from Second Kings chapter 16, we learned a few Lord’s days ago that sadly King Ahaz turned out to be an evil, godless, idol-worshipping king, a king who failed miserably in his covenantal duties as the theocratic king of God’s people.

However, even though Ahaz was an evil, godless king, Yahweh his God would not allow the covenant promises that he had made to Ahaz’s ancestor, King David, he would not allow those promises to go unfulfilled. You see, the Lord had made a promise and he was going to keep his promise and the faithlessness of King Ahaz would not nullify or thwart the covenant faithfulness of Yahweh, the true and living God, the God of Israel. The Lord had promised David that his dynasty would be an everlasting dynasty and even the faithlessness of King Ahaz would not nullify the messianic promises that God had made to King David. Now a couple points of application I think we can take away from these opening verses. Just as it is the case that Syria and Israel tried to to get Judah to go along with their alliance against Assyria, so likewise throughout the history of God’s church, the unbelieving world has often sought to infiltrate and subvert the church in order to conscript the church to do its bidding or to push godless worldly agendas.

But friends, God’s word calls upon us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to stand firm against the inroads of a godless worldviews and worldly minded agendas. Instead of being conformed to this world, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Instead of caving into pressure or threats from the world, let us be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I think another lesson we can glean from this passage, my friends, is that this passage and others like it, what does this passage assume about the Lord? Well, passages like this one underscore the reality of God’s sovereign overruling providence and his sovereign overruling of all of the affairs of the world. See, not only does the Lord govern us in the private chambers of our hearts, though he certainly does do that, not only does his providence extend to our family life and to the life of the church, it certainly does extend to that as well.

But remember, friends, our Lord in his divine providence, he exercises his providential sway even on the national and indeed the international scene. And indeed, throughout all of creation, God is sovereign over all. God was not threatened by the Assyrian threat as Israel and Syria and Judah had felt threatened. No, God was ruling and overruling even in the midst of that threat. So let the people of God trust in him and rest in his providence. Let us, beloved, let us rest in knowing that his providential hand guides all. And thus we need not fear. Now that is not to say that we should not fulfill our responsibilities. We have responsibilities as individual believers. We have responsibilities as husbands and wives. We have responsibilities as employers and employees. We have responsibilities as citizens. Let us be faithful to those responsibilities, but let us not fret when things seem to be going in a way that is not good.

Let us realize that God is sovereign over all and his providential hand guides all. And he is causing all things to work together for the good to those who love him and who are the called according to his purpose. So we see in this passage a conspiracy against the Lord’s people, but here we also see a message to the Lord’s King. The Lord through Isaiah communicates to King Ahaz a message, and that brings me to my next point as we consider verses three through seven. It says this, and this is in response to Ahaz’s terrified response to to Syria and Ephraim coming to attack Jerusalem. And sadly as the leader of God’s people, he was supposed to show them and model for them courage in the Lord, but instead he modeled cowardice. And so it says this in verse three, the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, but he didn’t send just Isaiah to meet Ahaz.

He says, you and Shair Jashab your son. And then he tells them where to go meet him. He was to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washers field. We don’t know exactly where that is, but what was likely happening here is that King Ahaz went to check the water supply in the city, which would be a very important thing to know that they were going to have a plentiful supply of water if they happen to be attacked and if there’s a siege on the city of Jerusalem. So that’s where Isaiah is to go, but he’s not to go alone. He’s to take his son Shair Jashab. Now that name, the name of his son Shair Jashab means a remnant shall return. As one commentator puts it, Isaiah’s son was a living portent of judgment and salvation.

For what does Isaiah’s son’s name imply? Well, the name means a remnant shall return. His son’s name is itself a prophecy of that which was to come. There would come a time when the people of Judah, too, would be sent into exile because of God’s judgment against them. And yet, beyond the judgment, there is deliverance. There is hope. There is restoration. There is salvation. For a remnant shall return. And by taking his son with him to confront King Ahaz with the Lord’s message, again, this was a further testimony and witness to King Ahaz. The name Shair Jashab symbolized a promise of salvation to the faithful remnant, which would take place, of course, after the near-term judgment of the wicked. Judah would suffer judgment in the short term, but a faithful remnant would remain and return from the exile.

And then it goes on to say in verse 4, this is the message that Isaiah was, under the Spirit’s inspiration, to convey to Ahaz. And again, this was communicated to Ahaz early in his reign, apparently before he had fallen into the gross wickedness that the other scriptures testify that he fell into. And what was the message to Ahaz? The Lord says to Isaiah to communicate this message to Ahaz, be careful, be quiet, do not fear. His heart had been full of fear, fear that is described as shaking as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. What a picturesque way of describing this fear that he had, that had overcome him. But the Lord says to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands.

He’s talking there about the king of of Syria and the king of Israel, resin and Syria and the son of Romalia, as it says at the end of this verse. He goes on to say in verse 4, because Syria with Ephraim, I’m sorry, verse 5, because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Romalia has devised evil against you, saying let us go up against Judah and terrify it and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it. They want to set up, get rid of Ahaz and set up a puppet king in his place. What does it mean when he describes these two kings as these two smoldering stumps of firebrands? Again as one commentator points out, two kingdoms were about to be destroyed, Damascus which was the capital city of Syria, was destroyed in 732 BC by Tiglath-Paleser III and Samaria, the capital city of Israel.

That in the northern kingdom was destroyed in 722 BC by Sargon II. And so the Lord’s saying to Ahaz, look, these kings who are threatening you, resin and and Pekah, these two kings, they themselves are on their way out. They themselves are about to be destroyed, so do not fear them, Ahaz. Instead be careful, be quiet, do not fear. In other words, trust me, I’ve got this under control, Ahaz. And then he goes on to say in verse 7, thus says the Lord God, it shall not stand and it shall not come to pass. This is the divine promise to King Ahaz. It is a promise that he is to rest in. Again, since God has given his word of promise, let King Ahaz trust in the Lord’s sure word instead of turning to Assyria for help.

You know, one of the things that Isaiah is trying to do here under the Spirit’s inspiration, he’s trying to keep Ahaz from forming a counter alliance with Assyria. Instead of trusting in an alliance with Assyria to defend itself, to defend Judah rather against Syria and Israel’s attack, Ahaz was called upon to trust in his divine king, to trust in Yahweh, the God of Israel. The Lord’s saying through Isaiah, Ahaz, don’t trust in Assyria, don’t make an alliance with Assyria to defend yourself against Syria and Israel who are trying to force you into an alliance with them. Instead, let your alliance, if you will, be with me. Let your trust be in me. However, as other passages of scripture indicate, Ahaz obviously did not heed this call to faith in the Lord. Instead of trusting in the Lord and obeying his word, he turned to human resources by making an alliance with Assyria and he trusted in idols and in the works of his own hands.

We learned that a few Lord’s days ago and we considered 2 Kings chapter 16. Dear ones, we learned from this passage that the Word of God communicates to us both warnings and promises. Warnings of judgment to those who reject the Lord and who reject his word, but promises of grace and salvation to those who repent and trust in the Lord and in his word. Oh, by God’s grace, may we heed the warnings and may we embrace the promises. And so we find finally in this passage in verses 8 and 9, a summons to firm faith in the Lord. That’s the final point on your sermon outline. We find here a summons to firm faith in the Lord. So the Lord goes on, he assures at the end of verse 7, he assures Ahaz that this conspiracy against Judah will not stand.

The Lord will not allow it to stand. And he goes on to say, for the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is resin, and within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. What does this mean? What is this 65 years that is being referred to? Well, biblical scholars debate how this was precisely fulfilled, but I agree with the following commentator who says this. He says, the Northern Kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC. By around 670 BC, the ethnic identity of the former kingdom would have been decisively transformed due to the importation of foreign settlers. And that’s what happened in the Northern Kingdom, for example. And so again, we find here a call to faith, in verse 9, and head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Romalia.

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. This is an interesting, it’s interesting how this is worded in the Hebrew. Isaiah uses a Hebrew wordplay to drive home the point. It has been suggested that this section of verse 9 could be paraphrased as, hold God in doubt, you’ll not hold out, or unsure equals insecure. This is a call to firmly trust in the Lord and his promises. Friends, what Ahaz needed to understand is that God will not allow his covenant promises to the house of David to fail or be thwarted. God had promised to David an eternal offspring and an eternal kingdom, and therefore Ahaz had no reason to fear the threats from Syria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, nor should he turn to the king of Assyria, the pagan king of Assyria, for protection.

Instead, as the theocratic king over God’s people, as the Davidic anointed king over God’s people, Ahaz should put his trust in the divine king, Yahweh the Lord. But again, as the biblical history makes clear, tragically King Ahaz did not heed this call to affirm faith. He turned to the pagan king of Assyria for help. He made an alliance with the king of Assyria against Syria and Israel, and instead of trusting and obeying the Lord, he fell into gross, perverse idolatry and extremely wicked behavior, even sacrificing his son, burning his son alive to a pagan deity. Friends, his gross idolatry and wicked behavior and utter failure as the theocratic king over God’s people were all ultimately rooted in an evil heart of unbelief, because he did not believe this word from the Lord that was communicated to him by Isaiah the prophet.

Sadly and tragically, King Ahaz ultimately showed himself to be an unregenerate man, a man who instead of trusting Yahweh and his covenant promises, trusted in man. In his case, he trusted in the pagan king of Assyria, and he trusted in the works of human hands, which explains his idolatry and his modeling of an altar for the temple of the Lord that mimicked the altars that he saw among the Assyrians. He worshiped the works of his own hands. He departed from the Lord. In some, my friends, Ahaz disobeyed because he disbelieved. He had no firmness of faith, so he fell into the folly of idolatry. And those, my friends, are ultimately the two options. You either trust in the Lord and his promises of grace offered freely to you in the gospel, or you reject the Lord and his word.

So how about you? Are you like King Ahaz, or do you firmly trust in the Lord’s promises? The good news of the gospel is that God has made sure and certain and firm promises. Just as God fulfilled his covenant promise to David by raising up Jesus of Nazareth, great David’s greater son, to be the Messiah, the promised Messiah, so the Lord has made firm and certain promises in the gospel to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Word made flesh, was crucified for the forgiveness of sins and raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. And the Word of God promises to all who turn to Christ in faith and repentance that they will be fully and freely forgiven.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That is God’s faithful promise to you and to me. Do you believe that promise? Do you trust that Savior? His arms are open wide to all who would receive him, and so be firm in your faith in Christ. Rest in him. As the prophet Isaiah says to Ahaz, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint. Do not let your heart be faint as you consider your sinfulness in the presence of an all-holy God. Realize that in Jesus Christ, you have a perfect, all-sufficient Savior, and all of God’s promises are yea and amen in him. So rest in Jesus. May your faith be firm in him. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that you are sovereign.

We thank you that you are a God of providence. We thank you, Lord, that no matter how the world seems to be spinning out of control, God our Heavenly Father, you our Father in heaven, are still sovereign and Jesus is still Lord. And so help us to rest in your sovereignty and give us grace as sinners to rest in Jesus, our perfect, all-sufficient Savior, and in his precious gospel promises. In his name we pray, and all of God’s people said amen. As we close our service today, let’s rise and sing as our hymn of commitment, 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 13, 2024