“The Righteous King”
[Isaiah 32:1-20]
July 7, 2019, Second Reformed Church
In this morning’s text, Isaiah again
turns to “that day” – the final day, as he tells Jerusalem and us what the
government of the Messiah will be like.
And we see, first, the King will
rule in righteousness.
“Behold, a king will reign in
righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.”
To be righteous is to not sin and to
do everything that is required. We know
politicians and leaders like this, right?
Rulers who have never sinned and always do everything that God requires
of them – like…well…like…. This can only
be Jesus – only Jesus never sinned and keep the entire Law of God – He is
completely obedient to His Father.
When Jesus returns to reign as the
righteous King, He will rule in truth:
“Each will be like a hiding place from the
wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the
shade of a great rock in a weary land.”
The rule of the righteous King will be one
of security, healing, and health. Noting
will ever hurt or distress us again.
When Jesus returns to reign as the righteous
King, He will transform us:
“Then the eyes of those who see will not
be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. The heart of the
hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to
speak distinctly.”
The eyes that were blind will now
see. The ears that were deaf will now
hear. The minds that were restless and
confused will be at peace and know the truth.
Those who could not speak well will be transformed such that they speak
without impediment.
When Jesus returns to reign as the
righteous King, He will show no mercy to those who refuse to turn from their
sin.
“The fool will no more be called noble, nor
the scoundrel said to be honorable. For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is
busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the
LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the
thirsty of drink. As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked
schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is
right. But he who is noble plans noble things, and
on noble things he stands.”
The fool will be exposed to be a
fool! No one will ever call his babble
wisdom again. No one will be taken in by
his folly. All will know it is not
wisdom to deny the Word of God and to keep those who are in need from receiving
their “daily bread.”
The scoundrel will be exposed to be
a scoundrel! No one will ever fall for
his con jobs – his lies – his pleas for what is not true. He will be stopped from ruining the poor and
the needy.
But the noble person – the person
who purses righteousness – will stand on the righteousness he pursues. We will stand on the last day, because we are
saved by the work of Christ – through His righteousness – not our own.
We will all be changed – we will all
be transformed. All we who believe will
be suited after the likeness of Jesus, as Paul tells the Corinthians:
“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable,
and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on
immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory? O
death, where is your sting?’
“The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in
the Lord your labor is not in vain” (I Corinthians 15:50-58, ESV).
Be encouraged! King Jesus is coming to rule in
righteousness, and everything and everyone will be transformed, and all will be
right in His Kingdom and under His governing.
As we wait for His return, let us
seek to live as though we are righteous like Him, living under His righteous
rule – let us stop sinning and do all those things God has said to do.
In the next section of text, Isaiah
addresses the women of Jerusalem of his day – prior to the attacks of the
Assyrians, and later, the Babylonians.
And we might wonder why Isaiah addresses these comments only to the
women – and there are different opinions on that:
The men have already been addressed
in earlier passages. One commentator says that you see the extent of a
calamity, because women and children are the last to be consumed (cf. Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1,
414). Another says that you can understand the state of a nation
by the way the women act (cf. Young, The
Book of Isaiah, vol. 2, 393).
Whatever the case may be, the men have been addressed previously.
What we find in this part of the
text is that the women are just like the men in Jerusalem – they believe that
since they are the City of God, nothing bad can happen to them – all will be
well – God will never lay a hand on them.
And they are called,
“complacent.” They find themselves self-satisfied,
lacking nothing, fully justified in their opinions, though they have no reason
to believe them.
Have you ever met someone like that
– I know a couple of people – that are so full of themselves – that think so
highly of themselves – who think they are the greatest, and they think God
thinks so too!
They are complacent – they believe
that nothing bad can happen to them, and they have a right for everything to go
well for them, well, because of who they are!
“Rise up, you women who are at ease,
hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In little more
than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest
fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder,
you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around
your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for
the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous
houses in the exultant city. For the palace is forsaken, the populous city
deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild
donkeys, a pasture of flocks;”
Isaiah tells them that in about a year,
their complacency will be shaken from them – they will realize that even
Jerusalem may be disciplined when necessary.
The Assyrians will come against Jerusalem and Jerusalem will fear.
In response to this, Isaiah tells
them they ought to show true repentance – dress as one who is repentant – in
sackcloth – and cry out in repentance for the fields and the vines, for the
people, and the donkeys – everyone will suffer under the Fatherly Hand of
discipline.
It’s a warning for us not to get
cocky, isn’t it? When we think or say
that we are above discipline – that God needs us too much to risk disciplining
us – we ought to break down, weeping, beating our breasts, crying out for
forgiveness for our sin. And we know
that we will be forgiven if we have truly believed:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I
John 1:9, ESV).
Paul writes to Timothy:
“The saying is trustworthy, for:
“If we have died with him, we will
also live with him;
“if we endure, we will also reign
with him;
“if we deny him, he also will deny
us;
“if we are faithless, he remains
faithful—
“for he cannot deny himself” (II
Timothy 2:11-13, ESV).
Third, the Holy Spirit comes.
Jerusalem was forsaken until the Holy
Spirit was poured out. Although the city
and the Temple would be destroyed and mostly rebuilt, it was still forsaken,
until that day – and – ultimately – until that day.
Peter preaches – on the Day of
Pentecost:
“But this is what was uttered through the
prophet Joel:
“‘And in the last days it shall be,
God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in
those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show
wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun
shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord
comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone
who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“Men of Israel, hear these words:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders
and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this
Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,
you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing
the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts
2:16-24, ESV).
Two thousand years ago, the prophecy
of Joel came to pass, and God the Holy Spirit was poured out, and He now
indwells every believer in Jesus.
And so, repentance and belief and
obedient striving after holiness by the Power of God the Holy Spirit became our
reality – but that is only the first step of what the Spirit is poured out to
do. Isaiah tells Jerusalem and us that
the Holy Spirit will restore what the sin of man has disfigured.
The Holy Spirit will give us a new
earth.
“until the Spirit is poured upon us
from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful
field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and
righteousness abide in the fruitful field.”
The Creation will be restored –
there will be no violence or barrenness or wickedness to be found in all of the
created order.
The Holy Spirit will give us a new
security.
“And the effect of righteousness will be
peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”
The reign of the Righteous King will bring
about peace and righteousness, quietness and trust. The headlines of the newspaper will be that
the Righteous King has established security such that everything and everyone
is at peace, everyone and everything is righteous, everyone and everything finds quiet, and everyone and
everything can be trusted.
Can you imagine?
The Holy Spirit will give us a new
society.
“My people will abide in a peaceful
habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”
It sounds like what Jesus says, doesn’t
it?
“So Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly,
truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are
thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If
anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have
life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who
does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees,
and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired
hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and
my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay
down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I
must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one
flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my
life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of
my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it
up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:7-18, ESV).
But, first the discipline of Jerusalem
must come:
“And it will hail when the forest falls
down, and the city will be utterly laid low.”
In 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed
Jerusalem and the Temple – leveling them like a mighty hail storm. And the Temple was rebuilt starting around
450 B.C. and continuing up to 70 A.D., when the Romans leveled Jerusalem and
the Temple.
In Reformed theology, we talk about the
“already” and the “not yet.” One thing
we say in this discussion is that salvation has occurred and it occurs for each
one who believes, but it has not fully occurred – not all the benefits of
salvation are experienced by believers until Jesus returns to judge the world
and restore the Creation.
But then:
“Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who
let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.”
Another way to put this comes just after
the familiar passage about the New Heavens and the New Earth:
“Then came one of the seven angels who had
the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come,
I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most
rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with
twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the
twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—on the east three gates, on
the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9-14, ESV).
Jesus is now seated at the right hand of
the Father, sovereignly ruling over all as the Righteous King. Our salvation is secure in Him and He is our
comfort before the Father, and the Father and the Son have poured out the Holy Spirit
to indwell us. And He has given us the
sure hope that change is coming – the day is coming when Jesus will return to
set up His Kingdom on earth in glory – a day that we believers look forward to
with great hope and desire.
So, let us continue in the work that God
has given us and let us live for our God and Savior – the Righteous King.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for Your Son, our
Savior, our Good Shepherd, the Righteous King, and the indwelling of God the
Holy Spirit. We thank You for telling us
about Your Kingdom and all we have to hope for.
Help us through the Power of God the Holy Spirit to live now as
righteous subjects of our King, striving to turn from sin and to do all that
You have commanded us. For it is in
Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
