“How It Is”
[Isaiah 2:5-22]
April 8, 2018, Second Reformed Church
When we last looked at the book of
Isaiah, we looked at Isaiah’s vision of how it will be during the period from
the Incarnation of the Son of God in the Person of Jesus until His Second Coming.
We saw that that period is called
“the last days” and we are still living in them. This is a period of time during which God is
exalting His worship, God is teaching people His law and they are obeying, and
God is reigning over His people in peace.
We are living in a time when we see the Glory of God more clearly than
ever before, we are seeing more people come to receive salvation through Jesus,
the Only Savior, and we are better understanding God’s Sovereign reign over all
of Creation.
But, in today’s Scripture, Isaiah
talks about how it is. Our text opens
and closes with an exhortation, and between them, Isaiah exposes the sin of the
people before God, and then God responds with His ultimate verdict against all
who sin in this way.
An exhortation is an urgent command
to do something.
Isaiah preaches:
“O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in
the light of the LORD.”
The implication of this first exhortation
is that Jacob is not walking in the Light of the Lord. In fact, as we will see, Jacob is walking in
her sin, and she is happy and confident in it.
But Isaiah cries out to the people of Judah and commands them to leave
their sin behind and walk in the Light of the Lord.
What is the Light of the Lord?
In Psalm 119, a psalm that explains the
beauty and the glory and the joy to be found in the Law of God – in the Word of
God, the psalmist writes, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my
path” (Psalm 119:105, ESV).
And John writes, “But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7, ESV).
If we walk in the Light of the Lord, we
walk in the Word of God, we receive the salvation of God through Jesus, we look
to the Word of God for our life, for our direction, for our sustenance, for our
encouragement, for our discipline, ….
“Turn back to the Word of God. Come out of the darkness into the Light. Turn away from your sin – which seems so
pleasant now, but one day will not please you anymore, and, furthermore, you
will have to answer for all you have done.”
After crying this exhortation – after
preaching repentance and adherence to the Word of God to the people of Judah
and having them revel in their sin, Isaiah turns to God and speaks to Him – not
because God is unaware of everything – but because Isaiah wants Judah to hear
the case against them and what they will reap in the justice of God.
So, first, Judah embraces the
fullness of idolatry.
“For you have rejected your people, the
house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of
fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children
of foreigners. Their land is filled with
silver and gold, and there is no end
to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to
their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of
their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and each
one is brought low—do not forgive them!”
God has already promised to bring judgment
against Judah in the form of slaughter and exile, so Isaiah cries out to God as
though it has already come to pass – God has rejected Jacob – His people –
generally speaking – don’t forget God promises to bring back a remnant.
Rather than being a holy people, as God
calls them to be, Judah embraces and incorporates the beliefs and practices of
the pagan nations around them. One specific thing Isaiah mentions is their
embracing and use of fortunetellers. God
forbids fortunetellers and says, “You shall be blameless before the LORD your
God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to
fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not
allowed you to do this” (Deuteronomy 18:13-14, ESV).
Another is the expression that they “are
full of things from the east” – which can imply that they we having elements of
worship and even gods of the pagan nations brought into the worship of Judah –
which we know they actually did. They
had inter-faith worship services – which are blasphemous. To worship multiple “gods” together is to
give them equal standing, whereas Judah knows there is One God and He Alone is
to be worshipped.
“They strike hand with the children of
foreigners.” What does this mean?
Does this look familiar to you? It’s a “high five.” It is a greeting – a sign of agreement,
friendship, unity – Jacob is one with the pagan nations.
Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you
may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and
exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your
soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak
against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
day of visitation” (I Peter 2:9-12, ESV).
Judah then and we now are to be holy. We are to be different – separate – in the
world, but not of it. Some wrongly
understand this to mean that we are to have nothing to do with anyone who is
not a Christian – a believer in God’s Savior.
That is not what Isaiah or God is saying.
Judah is worshiping with pagans, they are
worshipping their gods, they are participating in things that God has
forbidden. In those ways, we must stay
apart – we cannot worship together with someone who worships another god –
(which is not really a god at all!) We
cannot participate in those things that God has forbidden – for any good or
evil reason.
However, we can work together with pagans
to make the world around us better. We
can feed and clothe people together. We
can enjoy each other’s company and work to make good and pleasing things. We can teach each other and learn from each
other.
But we cannot worship together as though
all gods are the same – as if Jesus is one of many saviors – as though God has
no right to say what is sin.
Another of their sins is that they have
vast wealth and an enormous number of horses and chariots. They are wealthy and have a strong
military. What’s wrong with that?
God told Ancient Israel, “Only he must not
acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order
to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return
that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his
heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold” (Deuteronomy
17:16-17, ESV).
Why not?
Isn’t it good for the economy for there to be enormous wealth? Isn’t it good for the country to have an enormous
military?
God did not want them to build up their
wealth or their military, because He knew it would cause them to turn away from
Him – they wouldn’t trust Him for the future of the nation. Rather, they would trust in their wealth and
power – which is what they did.
Does that mean God is against us being
wealthy and having a substantial military?
Doesn’t God say that the purpose of government is to protect the people
and punish evil-doers?
These commands were for Ancient Theocratic
Israel and are no longer in effect since the destruction of the Temple in 70
A.D.
However, the command to trust God and not
our things or other people is still in effect!
Finally, Isaiah notes that this syncretism
– this bringing in and accepting other gods alongside of the One True God –
causes them to begin to make physical idols.
They make them with their hands.
They make them with their fingers.
(This is meant to sound ridiculous.) And after they craft these things,
they bow down to them and worship them – things that had been scraps of wood
and pieces of metal – now fashioned together by their hands and fingers –
things that had no power to exist – now worshipped as deity.
Who or what do you put your trust in?
Oh, yes, you trust in God…but do you trust
in God and…?
Are your hopes in God and the Democratic
party? The Republican party? The stock market? The welfare system? Your ability to make people give you things?
Where do you have idols in your life?
Get rid of them before it is too late!
Isaiah tells God that if Judah continues
on this road, forgiveness is unthinkable!
If nothing changes in the way Judah is acting, when God comes, it will
be too late for them – it will be the end of the nation. Unless they are
humbled – unless they are brought low – unless they are broken and change their
wicked ways.
But, as Isaiah well knew, we are all born
inclined towards sin, sinners, desiring after sin – not God, not humility
before Him. The answer – our hope – is
found in the One Who humbled Himself for us, as Paul writes:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is
yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the
form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human
form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV).
Since Jesus humbles Himself on our behalf
and credits us with that righteousness, we are now able to humble ourselves,
repent of our sin, follow after God, and be saved.
In the second part of our text, God lifts
up His voice and declares that there is a day of the Lord’s own choosing when
He will reveal His Glory – when all the world will see God for Who He is.
“Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from
before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty. The
haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be
humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts
has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted
up—and it shall be brought low; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and
lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills; against every high tower, and against every
fortified wall; against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the
beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty
pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that
day.”
The revealing of the Glory of the
Lord will cause all people to be humbled – the Lord will prove Himself to be
the one high and exalted Being before Whom all others are to bow.
God uses the things of nature to
compare with His Glory: the cedars of
Lebanon which rise high above the earth are beneath the Glory of the Lord, the
oaks of Bashan with all their might are nothing compared with the Glory of the
Lord; the ships of Tarshish – the greatest and mightiest fleet of ships in
existence at the time – are mere bathtub toys compared with the Glory of the Lord.
And so, God repeats that all humans
will be humbled before the Glory of the Lord on that day. That day is the Second Coming, as we have
already heard:
“Therefore God has highly exalted
him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
(Philippians 2:9-11, ESV).
The Return of Christ in glory will
be a time of great joy for all we who believe, but it will be a time of
unimaginable sorrow and torment for those who never believe. Amos describes what the Day of the Lord will
be of those who never believe:
“Woe
to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It
is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or
went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit
him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no
brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20, ESV).
Isaiah says:
“And the idols shall utterly pass away. And
people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from
before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he
rises to terrify the earth. In that day
mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which
they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the
caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of
the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the
earth.”
Confronted by the Glory of the Lord, all
those who worship idols will cast their idols away – even idols made of gold
and silver – their bank accounts, and cars, and jets, and homes, and they will
be so terrified by the Truth of the Glory of the Lord, that they will follow
the bats and the moles and find caves and holes, and dig themselves down under
the earth – as if they could escape the Lord – even by burying themselves
alive!
The Lord will return to proclaim, “I
am the Lord, Your God!” And many,
recognizing this truth will flee in horror and try to escape when there is no
escape.
Brothers and sisters, we must open
our mouths now – we must tell our family and friends and any who come in our
path that they are in need to salvation – of being made right with God – and
Jesus, God Incarnate – is the Only Savior.
This past week, I got an e-mail from
one of my aunts who is a pagan, and she asked me to not send her anything that
mentions Jesus or talk to her about Jesus any more. She said that she and her husband are
unbelievers and they will never believe.
I don’t want to see her running from the Glory of the Lord! But I don’t want her to completely shut me
out, either, so I will not send her anything or talk to her about Jesus – for
now. Instead, I will pray for what she
heard from me to take root by the Power of God the Holy Spirit and that others
would come into her life and tell her of her need for Jesus.
Do you know anyone who may try to
bury themselves at the coming of the Lord?
Have you told them the Name of Jesus?
Have you said that you are concerned that they get right with God before
it is too late?
Or maybe it is you. Maybe you like the church and the people and
the perks of being here, but you don’t believe.
Have you heard that God has made One Way to be right with Him, through
Jesus, God the Son? Do you know that if
you do not believe and confess Him with your mouth that you will have to pay
your debt to God yourself? You will have
to pay an infinite debt to the Holy God.
Don’t you fear the words of Isaiah?
The Lord God is coming to reveal Himself
for Who He truly is. And you will be
enraptured in love, or you will flee in fear, knowing that you were wrong and
all Hell is about to be yours.
Isaiah ends this section with a second
exhortation:
“Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is
breath, for of what account is he?”
Judah was putting her trust in themselves
and in their fellow citizens, their king, their allies, and God tells them not
to look to humans for salvation. Don’t
look to beings who die. Don’t look to
beings who cannot change the length of their life or the height of their
stature.
Do we remember what Jesus said?
“Look at the birds of the air: they
neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his span of life? (Matthew 6:26-27, ESV).
Humans do not have the ability to extend
their lives for one second past what God has ordained, so why should we look to
humans for our salvation – for ultimate truth.
Do not look to humans to change your
spiritual state. Don’t look to humans
for salvation. Rather, walk in the Light
of the Lord. Look to what God has said
in His Word. See what God has said and
commanded. Plead with Him for help. Follow after Him by God the Holy Spirit
within you. Humble yourself as our Lord
humbled Himself. Put away your idols –
tell everyone you know that their idols are not worth it – they cannot help in
ways that truly matter. Believe in Jesus
– God the Son – Who came to earth, lived, died, and physically rose from the
dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father – Who will come back in glory
one day.
Will you be ready? Will you have told everyone you possibly can
that there is salvation in Jesus Alone?
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the
gift of salvation through Your Son. We
ask that You would keep us focused on Him and keep us knowing You in Your Word –
that we would put away our idols and follow You in joy until Your Son
returns. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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