“The Afflicted Find Refuge”
[Isaiah 14:28-32]
September 30, 2018, Second Reformed
Church
As we continue to look at the book
of Isaiah, we come to the second oracle against the nations – those nations
that have attacked Israel and Judah. The
second oracle is against the Philistines.
We will remember the Philistines –
especially that most famous of Philistines, Goliath, that David killed with a
stone and a sling. The Philistines were
one of the nations – actually a collection of city-states – which is why Isaiah
proclaims his oracle to “Philista, all of you” – one of the nations that exists
in the land of Canaan when God tells Israel to enter the land and take it and
slaughter all the inhabitants – which they did not do.
The Philistines are called “the sea
people,” because they lived along the western border of Israel on the Mediterranean
Sea. They were fishers and great
sailors.
We could not put a date to the first
oracle, but to this one we can:
“In the year that King Ahaz died came this
oracle:”
King Ahaz – we will remember him from
chapter seven of Isaiah – he did not have faith in God and when God came to him
through Isaiah – when the Syrians were looking to invade – God told him to
trust God and not to make alliances with pagan nations – so, he made an alliance
with the Assyrians, which lead to the Assyrians conquering Syria and Israel and
killing most of them and taking the rest into captivity.
King Ahaz dies in 715 B.C., which is when
this oracle is given to Isaiah.
And we see, first, we are not to
rejoice when the Church suffers.
“Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that
the rod that struck you is broken,”
God tells the Philistines not to rejoice
that the rod that struck them is broken.
What is the broken rod? The
broken rod is the line of David, the strength of the Church, the promise of the
Messiah.
Due to King Ahaz’s sin, Israel had become
a vassal of Assyria. They had to obey
the Assyrians and pay heavy taxes to them.
When Ahaz dies, his son, Hezekiah, who is twenty-four years old assumes
the throne. He is a young man who has
had a poor example for a father and a king.
He does not seem to have the wherewithal to begin – at least – as a
strong king.
The Philistines look at this as the
weakening – or perhaps, the end – of the Davidic line. The Philistines look at this as a possibility
for them to assert more influence over Israel and Judah, perhaps, even take it
and expand their own land.
They look at the death of Ahaz and the
ascension of the young Hezekiah, and grins start to spread across their faces,
“Israel is doomed. They will no longer
be a thorn in our side, and we may even take our revenge on them. So much for
their prophecies of a Savior coming from the line of David”
God tells them not to rejoice. Don’t rejoice because the leadership of the
Church is weak and fallen. Don’t rejoice
because it looks like the Church is dying out in Europe and the United
States. Don’t rejoice that the Gospel is
not being preached. Don’t rejoice that
people are going to churches that speak about “five great ways to simplify your
life” or “three steps to higher self-esteem” or “God is all about you!’ Don’t rejoice in the sex scandals in the
Roman church.
Do you ever think, “Ha! It serves that minister right – it serves
that denomination right – take them out God!”
Have you ever heard anyone chuckle about how churches are getting
smaller and more and more young people say they have no affiliation with any
religion? Have you ever seen someone
with a big smile saying it’s great that our country is finally getting over
God?
The Philistines look at God’s people struggling
and failing and sinning, and they rejoice that they are not living up to the
holiness that God calls all believers to – they rejoice that the Church is
looking like a joke – they rejoice that God’s Name is being blasphemed and the
Savior is bring mocked. And God tells
them not to do that – and neither should we.
When a church or a minister falls, we
should mourn. We are one body in Christ
– all those who believe in Jesus for salvation – and if one member hurts, we
all hurt (Cf. I Corinthians 12).
But why should the non-Christian refrain
from rejoicing? Why should the Philistines
not rejoice?
“for from the serpent's root will come
forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.”
Isaiah mixes metaphors of serpents and
trees to tell them that something bad will strike them for their sin and
something worse will follow it.
The Philistines will not get away with
rejoicing in the fall of the Church, because when you mock the Church you mock
the Bride of Christ and our Bridegroom will not stand for it.
The Philistines misjudged Hezekiah:
“And he did what was right in the eyes of
the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high
places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces
the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of
Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the
LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of
Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the
LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the
LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he
prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He
struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower
to fortified city” (2 Kings 18:3-8, ESV).
The adder struck.
Paul rebukes the Corinthian Church for
allowing unrepentant, scandalous sexual sin to continue, “Flee from sexual
immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the
sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are
not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (I
Corinthians 6:18-20, ESV).
And what was that price that bought us?
“For if while we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are
reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11, ESV).
Christ lived to save us and He died to
save us, so we are not to rejoice when the Church suffers.
Second, the wicked will not escape
judgment.
“And
the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety;”
God tells the Philistines that He
will protect the poor and the needy of the remnant He has chosen for
Himself. The Philistines will not
overcome them. God will give even the
most fragile of His remnant all that they need for each day – in food and in
safe sleep.
Nothing has changed in this: Jesus says to pray, “Give us this day our daily
bread.” Please give us everything we
need to be God’s people – to glorify God – in this day.
And it is reminiscent of David’s
words, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in
green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake” (Psalm 23:1-3, ESV).
The remnant will be ok – the Church
will be ok – the Church will always survive – the remnant will always survive –
there is always a remnant who are God’s people – the people for whom Christ
died.
And then we hear the fury of God and
the release of the flying fiery serpent:
“but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay. Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O
Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no
straggler in his ranks.”
Worse than Hezekiah’s conquest of the Philistines
will be God’s punishment of the Philistines – starvation – slaughter.
The gates are told to wail, because the
gates are the most important point of security – if the gates fall, the battle
is lost – and they wail, because they do fall, the cities cry out in fear and
in torment – this is coming, so they are to melt in fear.
Out of the north – the Philistines can
only see the smoke of their camps, but they are moving closer and closer and
they can see that they are large, and they don’t tire, and we know that this is
the Babylonians who will come and conquer and take even the Philistines land
for themselves.
So,
the wicked do not escape. From their
initial rejoicing at the downfall of Israel and Judah, the curtain is pulled
back and they see that it is not the people of God who will be lost – though we
may die – we must always be ready and know it is possible that God will call us
to die for our faith – but the remnant will be saved, and the wicked will face
the judgment – they will stand under the Wrath of God.
Third, after the Church is broken, God
will raise her up.
“What will one answer the messengers
of the nation? ‘The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his
people find refuge.’”
When the Church is plagued with
scandals and it looks like everywhere you look churches are closing their
doors, and the unbelievers are looking and laughing, how do we answer the
nations? What do we say to them about
this?
The Lord has founded Zion.
The Gospel is God’s work.
The Kingdom is God’s work.
Salvation is God’s work.
“Yes, everywhere around us, we see the
results of Christian sin – and it is hurting the body – the Church – it is
offensive to our beloved Christ, and we are to repent and strive for holiness
with everything that we are – we are to submit to the leadings of God the Holy
Spirit – and we are to remember that we do not usher in the fullness of the
Kingdom – we do not wash ourselves clean.”
Zechariah tells us, “Then he showed me
Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan
standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD
rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this
a brand plucked from the fire?’ Now Joshua was standing before the angel,
clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing
before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold,
I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure
vestments.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put
a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the
LORD was standing by” (Zechariah 3:1-5, ESV).
In this vision, the high priest,
Joshua, appears in filthy garments – he is a sinner – and Satan is ready to
accuse him before the Lord. And the Lord
removes his filthy garments and puts clean garments on him. The work is all the Lord’s.
When people taunt us and our churches
because of the sin in them – we ought not to deny that we are sinners and sin
has damaged the Church – we are to tell them, “Thanks be to God, the Church and
salvation and the kingdom are the work of the Holy God who always keeps His
promises and never fails. If the work of
salvation and the Church were merely on our shoulders, all hope would be lost,
but in the bleakest days of the Church, we can rejoice because – no matter how
things may look right now – God is bringing all things to pass as He wills and
the Church is Triumphant and Glorious through Him and due to Him.”
Asaph writes, “Yet God my King is
from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth” (Psalm 74:12, ESV).
We, the remnant of humanity, elected
and predestined to be the people of God, are afflicted – due largely to our own
sin, but God promises to give us refuge – to give us peace and restoration.
Paul writes, “Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might
sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so
that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same
way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his
wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and
cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his
body” (Ephesians 5:25-30, ESV).
Christ loves the Church and gave
Himself up for her – He gave His life and His death that we would be
saved. He is sanctifying us and
cleansing us through His work on earth and through the preaching and the
sacraments, so, on that final day, He will present the Church to Himself –
spotless, without wrinkle, holy, without blemish, nourished and cherished –
having found the Only Refuge in Him.
Just as God promises the remnant in
the days of Hezekiah that they would find refuge after the Babylonians come, so
we will come through our affliction – again – largely due to our own sin, by
the Grace of God.
The sons of Korah wrote a song that
puts this well:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar
and foam, though the mountains
tremble at its swelling. Selah
“There is a river whose streams make
glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst
of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The
nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The
LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
“Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of
the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with
fire. ‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I
will be exalted in the earth!’ The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob
is our fortress. Selah” (ESV).
And John Calvin comments: “We ought to draw from it a general
statement, that when we are weighed down by adversity, and when the ungodly
rejoice as if we are ruined, and as if they alone were prosperous, God declares
that their joy is without foundation.
The Church will always rise again, and be restored to her former and
prosperous condition, though all conclude that she is ruined. The children of God shall acquire new vigour
[sic], that they may pierce the eyes of the ungodly; not that they wish this,
or have any such intention, but because the decree of God makes it necessary
that this shall take place.” John Calvin,
Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1, 464, on
Isaiah 14:29.
After the Church is broken – and the
Church is broken – God will raise her up.
God will glorify the Church as we are united in glory with Him on the
last day.
So, let us mourn the sin of the
Church.
Let us know that the wicked will
face justice.
And let us strive towards holiness,
even as we proclaim that the work is the Lord’s and He will perfect us and
bring us into glory.
May Jesus Christ be praised.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we have a tendency to
point fingers and to tremble at the accusations of others. Give us refuge in Your wings. Uplift us in the hope that Christ has done
all the work necessary to cleanse us and perfect us and bring us into the
fullness of His Kingdom. Help us to call
upon the Holy Spirit that God Who lives within us would encourage us through
the means of grace and keep our eyes fixed on that day when we are fully in
union with Christ. And until that day,
may He strengthen us to work to the glory and honor of the One and Only God,
our Savior. For it is in Jesus’ Name we
pray, Amen.
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