Sunday, September 30, 2018

"The Afflicted Find Refuge" Sermon: Isaiah 14:28-32


“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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