"The Glory of the Wrath of the Lord" Sermon: Isaiah 24:1-23

“The Glory of the Wrath of the Lord”

[Isaiah 24:1-23]

February 24, 2019, Second Reformed Church

            “But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness” (Isaiah 5:16, ESV).

            “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:18, ESV).

            Our God is the God of Justice.  Since God is Holy, He is Just.  God is incapable of allowing evil to exist unpunished.  God is incapable of allowing sin to exist unpunished.  If God is Holy, God must also be wrathful against sin and evil.  And we, as His people, ought to rejoice and praise Him for being wrathful against sin and evil.

            Notice I did not say that we ought to rejoice and praise Him for being wrathful against any specific person – we do not have the knowledge to know what is happening and make that sort of judgment.  Only God knows the heart.

            However, at the end of the age, when God’s Wrath is let loose – and even as we see things in God’s Word being told to us as God’s Wrath by God – in which case we do know what is happening – in those cases – at that time, we ought to rejoice and praise Him for being wrathful against sin and evil.

            Chapter 24 of the book of Isaiah takes place at least 2,700 years after Isaiah speaks – and we know that because it hasn’t happened yet.  This is a view of the end of the age – when Jesus returns to judge the world.

            Verses one through three open up with God coming  to judge the whole earth – and what we see here is the judgment of the wicked – the earth becoming desolate – twisting the earth, scattering the people.

            And we see that the damned come from every station in life:  laity, priests, slaves, masters, maids, mistresses, buyers, sellers, lenders, borrows, creditors, and debtors – under the Wrath of God – for the unrepentant and unbelieving, all are equal – and none will escape – for thus says the Lord.

            In verses four through six, we have an explanation of why God’s Wrath has come against the world and its people – three reasons: 

            They have transgressed the laws of God.  They have heard the Law of God and said, “I don’t care – I’m going to do it my way – I don’t care what God has said – I am the captain of my fate and I will do as I please.”

            They have violated – or changed – the statues of God.  God says that it is a sin to murder, and they say it is not.  God says it is a sin to have sexual relations outside of the marriage of one man and one woman, and they say it is not.  God says there is to be no work done on the Sabbath, but it is a day set aside for worship, and they say – do what you want.

            They have broken the everlasting covenant of God.  God says they are to do and not do certain things, and, in exchange for that, they will have everything, and they say that they were born breathing so they are entitled to whatever they want.

            For these three sins against God, God has a curse devour the earth, and they suffer for their guilt.

            And, so, in verses seven through twelve, we see that joy and security is lost:

            Wine doesn’t bring joy any more.  Music is gone – silenced – no one dances.  No one sings, and when they drink, the wine seems bitter because they have nothing left to be joyful about.

            The city walls are broken down and people barricade themselves in their homes for fear, because they know Who is coming.  They cry out, joy is dead, gladness is banished.

The city is desolate and the gates are in ruins.  The unrepentant sin of the people has led to their righteous destruction.

And we notice that the earth – the Creation – is scorched – as well – as Paul reminds us, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21, ESV).  The Creation suffers due to our sin – not its sin.

Then, in verses thirteen through sixteen, the tone totally changes:

That day will be like the harvest of ripe olives or grapes – a day of feasting and joy and merriment.

The people will lift up their voices and sing for joy at the majesty of the Lord God – and they will glorify the Lord God, the God of Israel.  From one end of the earth to another, praises will go up to the glory of God, the Righteous One.

What’s going on?

One commentator writes, “The entire world thus is called upon to praise the Lord.  It will honor the Lord in that it will ascribe to Him the weight of glory that is His due.  There is but one true God, and the One is Israel’s God.  All such men are to praise Him and Him alone.   The result of judgement will be the universal praise of the true God” (E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, volume 2, 170).

            I have been asked how we can be joyful “in Heaven” knowing that there are people suffering in Hell.  My answer to that is that our joy is not to be found in the Wrath of God, per se, but in the Justice of God – that God is Just.  We will not be focused on the Wrath of God on unbelievers in Hell, but on the glorious perfection of God’s Justice.  We will be amazed and thankful that we did not bear God’s Justice, but Jesus did on our behalf.

            Listen to the songs of praise:

            “saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth” (Revelation 11:17-18, ESV).

            “And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, ‘Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” (Revelation 11:17-18. ESV).

            And then the tone changes again in the rest of verse sixteen:

            “But I say, ‘I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

            Now what’s going on?

            Isaiah is reacting to the death and destruction to come and the vision of God’s Wrath against the impenitent.

            We understand this because we are to mourn those who die in their sin.  We are to be wracked with pain over those who reject Jesus again and again and use His Name as a by-word.  We are never to desire someone to suffer God’s Wrath – we are not to delight in anyone going to Hell to suffer for all of eternity – which is what sin against God merits.  We are to mourn for sin.  We are to mourn for the unbeliever.  We are to cry out and plead with God to send God the Holy Spirit to change their hearts and bring them to faith and repentance.

            Twice God speaks this in the book of Ezekiel:

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23, ESV).

            “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV).

            God is not a sadist – He does not enjoy the suffering of the wicked – yet He is glorified in being just.  Likewise, we should take no pleasure in the suffering or death of any specific person – it should cause us to mourn, and we are to pray for all people – even our enemies – that they should turn and repent and believe in Jesus Alone for salvation.

            And still, some never will.  Some will die in their sin and suffer the Wrath and the Justice of God until all of their debt to the Infinite God is paid.

            When that day comes, it will be a day of terror for those who never believe.  Pits and snares will be set out for the wicked, and they will flee from the terror, but will be caught in the pits and the snares.  The windows of heaven will be opened and the foundations of the earth will tremble.

            The earth will be broken, split apart, violently shaken, so it staggers like a drunk and sways like a hut in the wind.

            The sins of the wicked are so heavy that when they fall under the weight of them, they will not get up again.  The end will have come.

            The chapter ends as Isaiah explains that the punishment of the damned by God on the last day will reveal the Glory of God:

            On the last day, God will punish all the human authorities – all will fall.  They will be gathered with all the others and throw as prisoners in a pit for many days and then they will receive their punishment.  And there will be utter confusion on their part as to why they are suffering – but the Lord of Hosts “reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.”  They will see the Glory of God in His Wrath, the Justice of the Lord carried out on all of Creation.

            How do we respond to this chapter?

            One author notes three things that we should remember:

            God’s Judgment is in Christ’s hands, so we can trust Him and what He is doing.

            The One Who loves us and gave His life for us says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19, ESV).

            Second, God’s Judgement means that God’s standards are upheld – God does not wink at or excuse sin.

Paul writes, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:18-21, ESV).

Paul explains that sin and eternal death came into the world through our first parents in the Garden and passes on to every mere human.  But God the Son came to earth in the Person of Jesus and lived and died – righteously taking on the sin and the Wrath of God for the sin of everyone who will ever believe savingly in Jesus Alone.  So the Just Wrath of God is still coming against those who never believe, but we are forgiven and welcome into the Kingdom. That means – on this earth, we mourn for the wicked, but in the Kingdom, we rejoice in the Justice of God.

Third, God’s Judgement destroys evil, which is good!

John assures believers:

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away’” (Revelation 20:11-21:4, ESV).

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/3-ways-gods-justice-comforts-us/

All evil and sin will be thrown into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels, and they will all suffer the fullness of God’s Wrath eternally.  But those who have believed, by the grace of Jesus, will be received into the Kingdom, knowing that God is Just, and all evil and sin has been put away.

Come, Lord, Jesus.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, when we think of people suffering under Your Wrath forever, we are uncomfortable and want to find a way around this truth, but to do so would be to call You a liar and unjust.  Help us to see the joy in Your Justice, even while we plead with those about to fall into a pit.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The New Jerusalem Radio

Beginning today, Saturday, February 23, 2019, my sermons will be broadcast on 95.9 FM, The New Jerusalem Radio, Saturdays at 8 AM and 8 PM, D.V. You can also log in at www.tnjr.org or call in at 16313599205, if you don't have access to a radio.

"Tyre, the Prostitute" Sermon: Isaiah 23:1-18

“Tyre, the Prostitute”

[Isaiah 23:1-18]

February 17, 2019, Second Reformed Church

            We begin with the very familiar verse, Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV).  And we must be careful – all things work together for good – for everyone?  No.  All things work together for good for those who love God – believers – for those who are called – the elect – believers.  For all those throughout time and space who believe savingly in the One Savior God has sent – all things work together for good.  All things – cancer, divorce, political collapse, hurricanes, murder, racism – all things work together for the good of believers.

            And, all things work together for the glory of God, because God is Sovereign and desires to make Himself and the salvation He provides through His Son known.  Through the Creation, and the Word of God, and the Sacraments – God focuses the telescope on Himself and says to all, “See Who I Am.  See What I have done to save a people for Myself.”

            Tyre and Sidon are sister cities in what was Phoenicia and is now Lebanon – just to the northwest of Israel.  Initially, they were two tiny islands just off the coast, but through engineering skill, the water was routed and the land built up, and Tyre and Sidon were no longer islands, but major seaports in Phoenicia, along the trade route to Babylon and Asia.

            David and Solomon engaged in friendly trade with Tyre, and Solomon married a number of women from that nation, unfortunately bringing with them the worship of Ashtoreth into the Temple of the Lord.

            Ships from Tarshish – in what we now call Turkey and ships from Egypt regularly trafficked trade through Tyre – and Tyre became a cosmopolitan and extremely wealthy city – just as Corinth would be in the future.  It was a city where every idea and practice was known and everything could be gotten for a price.  It was a place where truth was relative – or, perhaps, there was no truth at all.  But, if you had the money, you could get what you wanted and call it whatever you wanted.

            Verses one through fourteen tell of the many falls of Tyre.

God speaks through the prophet, telling Tarshish to wail, for there is nowhere for them to dock and sell their goods, because Tyre has fallen.

Cyprus is likewise told that Tyre and Sidon have fallen and there is nowhere for them to sell their grain.

Nor for Egypt, who has nowhere to sell her grain.

The nations are in a panic, in an uproar – anguished, that this ancient city has been destroyed – a city who was exulted and travelled the world through the traders who came through her.

Tyre was held in high esteem.  Through her trades, crowns were placed on heads, her merchants became princes, and her traders were honored throughout the earth.  It was through the things that happened in Tyre that the world was made or broken and changed from one hand to another.

But Tyre was conquered – and the time that is spoken of here is likely the conquest by Sennacherib of Assyria in 701 B.C.  We will remember that God sends an angel to slaughter Sennacherib’s army when he tries to attack Jerusalem, but here, God approves and uses Sennacherib to punish the people of Tyre.

            Verse nine, “The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.”

            The people of Tyre generally committed the sin of pride – they considered themselves too good, too amazing, too honorable, too worthwhile – like the average American.

            And God tells them they will have nowhere to run from His Wrath – if they go to Egypt or Turkey or Canaan or Cyprus – all the nations will be in an uproar over their fall to the Assyrians, and they will join with the Assyrians against them.

            God tells them to look at the Chaldeans – the Babylonians, and how the Assyrians have put them down – knocked down their towers, stripped their palaces, ruined her land, and given it to the wild beasts.  (Of course, we know that Babylon rises again.)        

            So, for her arrogance – her pride – her willingness to let anything and everything be freely and equally, God punishes Tyre.

            Verses fifteen through eighteen tell of the restoration of Tyre – but it is not the restoration one would hope for.

            For seventy years, Tyre remains in captivity.  But in 630 B.C., the people return out of captivity and take up their business as though a day hasn’t gone by.  The inhabitants of Tyre return to their street corners like an old prostitute come home, still willing to do anything for cash.

            “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody; sing many songs, that you may be remembered.”

            She learned nothing.  Nothing changed about what she thought or how she acted.

            God said, “At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.”

            Seventy years taught her nothing.  She did not repent.  She did not change.  She returned to her whoring for money.  Everything she did was “all about the Benjamins.”

            And then we have this final statement in our text which may seem very strange at first glance after what we have just concluded:

“Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.”

God sent Tyre home around 630 B.C., and she went back to trading and being the cosmopolitan port that she had been before God punished her by the Assyrians. 

About 445 B.C., King Artaxerxes of Persia sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem to be governor and to make sure that the Persian promise of the rebuilding of Judah and Jerusalem – especially her Temple, was completed.

When Cyrus the Mede of Persia initially sent back any who wanted to return to Jerusalem, he instructed all of the neighboring countries to supply everything that Judah needed to rebuild the city and the Temple.

And we read,

“When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia” (Ezra 3:1-7, ESV).

God will be glorified through all things and all people – even through the unrepentant old prostitute, Tyre, and her sister, Sidon, who, in response to the grant they received from King Cyrus, arrange the delivery of cedar from Lebanon for the rebuilding of the Temple and the city.

These prideful, unrepentant people, who were cosmopolitan and wealthy, and would do anything for the right amount of money, came together for the good of the people of God, and brought the cedar that was necessary for the rebuilding of the city and the Temple.

My first job after college was working in a Christian bookstore, and I had bought a suit that was made by a cult called, “Deva.”  And one of the patrons of the bookstore recognized the distinctive suit and asked if I didn’t “feel” something having the label in the clothing that said it was made by this cult.  I said, “no.”

The point being, as the singer, Steve Taylor sings, Christians don’t have to “drink milk from a Christian cow.”

God uses an evil, unrepentant people for His glory and the good of His people.  Now, that does not mean that we are allowed to engage in sin.  Just as Paul rebuked the Corinthian Church for engaging in the sins of her city, we are not to engage in the sins of the world.

But, we are to understand that God is bringing all things together for the glory of Himself and for the good of His people.  So, there is nothing wrong with eating a sandwich at a deli that was prepared by a Muslim or a Republican.  There is nothing wrong with hiring a carpenter who is an atheist or a Jew.  Christians are to use their gifts to the best of their abilities for the good of their neighbors and to the glory of God, but we are also to engage the people who will do whatever job we need done best – we are not obligated to only hire Christians.  (There are exceptions; of course, we should only sit under the preaching of a believer.)

God will glorify Himself through every type of person – believer and nonbeliever – and He will bring all things together for the good of His people.  And so He used Tyre.

But that is not the end of the story – and the story doesn’t end for anyone except by death or the return of Jesus.

Because, we see something happen during the ministry of Jesus:

“Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ And he strictly ordered them not to make him known” (Mark 3:7-12, ESV).

About five hundred years after supplying cedar for the Temple, when Jesus goes through the nation and even to the outlying nations, people flock to Him, and as He heals more and more people, more and more people start following Him and pressing against Him – including people from Tyre and Sidon.

Within thirty years of this, we read:

“And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home” (Acts 21:1-6, ESV).

Within thirty years, there were many disciples with wives and children in Tyre.  There was a distinct Christian presence in Tyre.

God will be glorified in every human being – whether believer or not – and in all of Creation.  And God will bring all things together for the good of His people – for we who love Him and are called and elected to be His and follow after Him.

And so, we dare not ever consider anyone a lost cause – especially insofar as salvation is concerned.  We have no idea who God has elected to salvation.  We may know of an evil family who – generation after generation – exploits her workers and acts like a prostitute for money in her business dealings – but it may just be that God cause some to tire of their family ways, and when we open our mouths and speak the Gospel – Who Jesus is and what He has done to secure salvation for the people of God – some of them may believe and become our brothers and sisters.  And if you are unsure of that – if you think it might be a waste of time – consider the city of Tyre.

And even if you are right, even if all your efforts never produce one person in a family or a city that profess the Name of Jesus, you have glorified God in your obedience and God has brought all these things together for your good.  Amen?

So, don’t lose hope.  Don’t give up.  Recognize that God is sovereignly moving through nations and cities and peoples to accomplish His will and glorify Himself.  And all our efforts are worthwhile – surely they are – Christ died for us – and God will bring all things together for our good.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You that You are Sovereign and will not allow sin to foil Your plans, but already have every sin worked into Your plan to bring all things together for the good of Your people and to Your glory.  Use us to Your glory.  Increase Your glory in this place.  Keep us from fear.  Help us to go forward in the power of the Holy Spirit in faith and obedience, striving after holiness and proclaiming Your Gospel.  Open our eyes to see Your Hand.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.