A Righteous King, a Shelter from the Storm

Sermon transcript

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.