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