“Wonder Upon Wonder”
[Isaiah 29:1-14]
May 26, 2019, Second Reformed Church
Jerusalem thought she was untouchable. Jerusalem thought that since she was the City of God – where the Temple of God was – God would never allow the city to be overtaken and destroyed. Jerusalem thought that God couldn’t get along without her – she was God’s people on earth – she was His representative to the nations – and if she didn’t exist – well, God wouldn’t get very far, would He?
Let’s remember why God chose Ancient Israel to be His people:
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today” (Deuteronomy 7:6-11, ESV).
God chose Ancient Israel because He chose to love them and chose to make a promise to Abraham that God had chosen to bless every type of person and peoples in the world through them by having Ancient Israel be the ones who receive the Law and the prophets, and, according to the flesh, the Savior.
God did not choose Israel because He needed them – and God did not choose us because He needs us – He chose us because He chose to love us for His own reasons and to His Glory.
And so, for her arrogance and for her disobedience, we saw last week, that God promises to discipline Jerusalem, and the discipline she receives will be the right discipline to achieve her repentance and restoration, and it will only go on for as long as it needs to. And we noted that Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C., the Temple was destroyed, and the people were carried off into captivity for seventy years.
In chapter twenty-nine of Isaiah, we read about Ariel.
And, some of us might be wondering why Isaiah is prophesying about The Little Mermaid. But he isn’t. If we continue down to verse eight, we see that Ariel is Zion, and we know from other passages that Zion is Jerusalem. So why does Isaiah call Jerusalem Ariel at this point, and what does it mean? It’s not clear. What we do know is that Ariel is Jerusalem, and Isaiah continues to prophesy against Jerusalem.
We see, first, God keeps His threats.
“Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!”
Jerusalem had been the home of David – the man after God’s own heart, but now she is a city of self-confident people who don’t believe that God will touch her – so they do what they want, based on God’s choice of Jerusalem to be the center of His people.
As we saw last week, God’s response is to promise Jerusalem that He will destroy them – including the Temple. We understand that God will do what is best to get us to repent and be reconciled – and that discipline will continue for the right amount of time.
But sometimes, we hear the Word of God, and we question whether it will ever come to pass.
Peter writes:
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:1-9, ESV).
“Ha-ha. You say Jesus physically rose from the dead – that He’s coming back – that He’s going to judge the world? He died two thousand years ago. Nothing is happening – He isn’t returning – God isn’t throwing lightning bolts from the sky.”
Peter tells us that God is not slow – He certainly hasn’t forgotten or gone back on His Word – God waits until the right time – and Jesus is waiting until the last person who is of the elect of God to professes faith – then He will return. Jesus hadn’t returned in the days of Peter – some thirty years after the Resurrection – and He hasn’t returned yet – after two thousand years – because there are still people who will believe. God knows when the last one will believe, and then Jesus will return.
Isaiah is prophesying around 700 B.C., and the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Temple in 586 B.C., fulfilling the Word of God – that’s over a hundred years later. And so, Isaiah says:
“Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.”
“God is going to bring destruction to Jerusalem, but you will live on for year after year, celebrating all the feasts for some time before God carries out His destruction of you for your sin. But don’t be confused – God knows you are not going to change – you are not going to repent and believe, and justice must be served. Jerusalem will moan and lament, and God will come against you and crush you and beat you down to the ground until your cries are no more than a whisper – the voice of a ghost.”
God’s threats are not in vain. God is the Holy God Who must punish sin if He is Holy and Just. Understand, when we say that we are forgiven for our sins, it is not as though we asked God for forgiveness, and God said, “No biggy. You’re forgiven.” No, that would not be just.
Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—“ (Galatians 3:13, ESV).
God must punish sin. So, for us to be forgiven, Jesus had to take on our sin – to become the curse – and then endure the fullness of the Wrath of God – and survive!
Those who never believe will suffer the Wrath of God themselves, and God will keep them alive to suffer for all of eternity in heart and mind and soul and body – as sin against God deserves.
Isaiah tells Jerusalem, the debt for your sin will be paid – the promise of destruction will come to pass – but not yet.
God keeps His threats
Second, God keeps His promises – a remnant will be saved.
“But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.”
God will allow the enemies of Jerusalem to attack her multiple times before the final destruction, but as they consider the imminent threat – the Assyrians – God says He is going to allow them to attack Jerusalem. And the attack of the Assyrians will be horrible against them – and they will be distressed. But God will come suddenly, in an instant, in power, with thunder and earthquakes and noise, and the enemies of Jerusalem will be reduced to dust, and the attack on Jerusalem will be like a bad dream.
What event is Isaiah referring to? It’s likely that he is referring to the attack of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army in 701 B.C.
God promises through Isaiah:
“For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
“’Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.’
“And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place” (Isaiah 37: 32-38, ESV).
There is a remnant – all those who will ever believe – out of every nation, tongue, tribe, people – God has chosen some to believe out of every type of person.
Paul says again, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5, ESV).
And, again, Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV).
All of the elect will reach repentance. All of the chosen will reach repentance. All of the remnant will reach repentance.
God keeps His promises.
Third, if you really want to be condemned, God will condemn you.
“Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot read.’”
God tells Jerusalem to be shocked – God is not going to stop them from their self-destruction. God will allow them to responsibly choose to ignore God and to forget what He has said. He will allow them to have the Temple be filled with people who go through all the motions and don’t believe a thing – well, they believe things, but they are wrong – they are nonsense – they are heresy.
God will allow unbelievers to continue further and further in their sin, and God will allow Christians to backslide – we are responsible creatures. God has allowed the Church in the northeast – in America – to become more confused – more delusional – more willing to believe whatever they want to believe, so long as it feels good. So God takes away the prophets and the seers – God takes away Bible-believing and preaching and teaching ministers and teachers. And the world blinds itself to the Word of God – “after all, the Bible just says to love everyone, right?” Those who can read say they can’t read because the book is sealed, and those who can’t read say they can’t read because they don’t know how to read. This is where people end up as they turn away from God and the Bible becomes a closed book – sealed, put away, covered with dust.
A survey in 2015 found that 62% of Americans say they have “a personal relationship with Jesus.” However, 69% said they believe Jesus sinned, and only 56% said they believe that Jesus is God (https://www.barna.com/research/what-do-americans-believe-about-jesus-5-popular-beliefs/).
In seminary I was told that – when you preach – you should focus on telling stories, because stories are easy to understand, and that’s how Jesus taught.
Really? Is that why Jesus told stories – to make sure everyone understood?
Jesus says:
“This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them’” (Matthew 13:13-15, ESV).
Jesus says, “I tell stories – I speak in parables – to make sure those who will never believe don’t understand.”
“And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.’”
God tells Jerusalem that their worship is not real. They are going through the motions, but there is no heart-belief. They don’t care what God said; they don’t care to be bothered with what God said. They have no feeling about salvation – they have not repented. Their actions say that as long as they bring their sacrifice – as long as they show their face on the major holidays and throw a buck in the plate – they can do and believe what they want. They are hypocrites.
“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.” But you say, “If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God,’ he need not honor his father.” So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:1-9, ESV).
Paul writes about people who do not believe and turn away from what God has clearly said – even through the nature:
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Romans 1:24-25, ESV).
And wonder upon wonder – God will destroy Jerusalem. Wonder upon wonder, God will come against His people for their discipline and their good.
The world looks at Christians who are disciplined and shakes their head and walks away. But we know our Father Who loves us disciplines us for our good.
But, if you don’t believe and you don’t want to believe and never do believe, God will let you wander in the dark.
If you really want to be condemned, God will condemn you.
Two points of application:
If you claim to be a Christian, be a Christian! Don’t just move your lips and “be good” – know and believe and obey the Word of God! Repent of your sin and return to God.
If we came across a farmer who said he didn’t believe in watering his plants, we would say he isn’t a good farmer. Yet, we meet people, who rarely join in worship, if at all, they deny that Jesus is God, they deny the Bible is the Word of God, and we believe them when they say they are Christians.
Wonder upon wonder.
And tell others that Jesus is the Only Savior.
There are so many people walking around in the dark, stumbling, speaking nonsense, believing that all is well. Love them enough to tell them they are not all right. Jesus is the Only Savior from the Wrath of God – the Only Way to be right with God.
God chose to send the message of the Gospel to the world through all we who believe. God has given you and me the holy honor and obligation to let others know that they can be right with God and live eternally in joy if they believe and repent. God saves the remnant through us.
Wonder upon wonder.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, break our hearts for the lost – for those wandering and stumbling around, believing that they are on the way. Open our eyes and guide our tongues that we would speak the right words to them, and draw them to Your Son and His salvation. Revive us, O Lord. Raise up Your Church in this place, give us Your Wisdom, draw Your people in and be glorified in the work that You do. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
