“The New Zion”
[Isaiah 33:13-24]
August 11, 2019, Second Reformed Church
Last week, we began to look at what Isaiah says to King Hezekiah and the people of Judah as they await the attack of the Assyrian Empire and King Sennacerib. The Assyrians and Judah had made a treaty to fight against the Syrians, but when the Syrians were defeated, the Assyrians betrayed Judah and turned against them.
And Isaiah explains that God is exceedingly gracious towards the remnant. The people of God will be saved – Jesus has paid the debt for all of the sins of all of the people who will ever believe in Him and credited them with His perfect keeping of the Law, so all we who believe – the remnant of the earth, will be saved – even if we die the most horrible death in our bodies.
Also, we saw that the wicked – those who never believe savingly in Jesus – the Savior – will be judged and punished to the extent that sin against the Holy God deserves.
Isaiah continues to speak and talks of the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem by God from the Assyrians – we will remember that King Sennacerib and his armies encamped outside of Jerusalem and sent word to King Hezekiah that they were going to destroy the city if he did not surrender. They were the nation that could not be beaten at that time – they rejoiced with haughty taunts about how their god had laid low all the gods of the nations and would do the same to the God of Judah.
And we remember what happened: while the Assyrian army slept that night, the Angel of the Lord went out among the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 soldiers, so when the army woke up, they were surrounded by dead people. Sennacerib and the remaining men retreated to Assyria, where Sennacerib was murdered by his sons, and the nation of Assyria collapsed and was defeated by the Babylonians.
And so we turn to our text and see:
First, our sin proves the necessity of God’s sovereign act of salvation.
“Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
God calls on all the people of the earth to hear about the defeat of the Assyrians – how the larger part of their army are killed while they slept outside of Jerusalem – to be attentive to what has happened – to be stricken and impressed and awestruck by what the God of Judah has done. Hear and understand the power of the God of Judah.
This is the God we serve – this is the God Who came to earth in the Person of Jesus for our salvation – this is the God Who spoke everything into existence and can return anything and anyone to dust by His Word. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are the One Almighty God. Do we take time to think about the things God has done in Holy and Almighty anger and judgment, and then consider our faithfulness and obedience?
When Ananias and Sapphira sold some land, they came with money to the church, and they told Peter that they were giving the full sum of the sale of their land to the church. But they lied – they kept back some of the money for themselves, and God the Holy Spirit killed them on the spot for their lie. Do we take our sin seriously?
There were unbelievers in the city of Jerusalem – just like there are in the church today, and they were shaken when they heard what God had done to the Assyrians:
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: ‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’”
Fear overcame those people in Jerusalem – as it should those in the church – who do not actually believe in God and the Savior He has sent, but want to be part of the church because it looks good, and it is a tax deduction, and people help each other, and your learn how to be a good person. No, the unbelievers who were pretending in Jerusalem were overcome with fear because they realized that God’s call to holiness – God’s call to obedience – God’s being the Almighty Judge of all of Creation is true – God takes sin and disobedience very seriously. And they were afraid – very afraid. Because they did not believe, and they understood that God promised eternal hellfire for all those who never believe, and now they believed this – that God will torment them forever!
And it’s a problem, how do you become right with the Holy God? How do you become right with the God Who says you must keep the Law and you must never sin – you must be holy and righteous?
The unbelievers know who can be right with God – who can escape the eternal torment of the Justice of God:
“He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.”
The one who is right with God and escapes eternal judgment is the one who keeps the Law perfectly and never sins. The person who shakes his hands to make sure they are not involved in anything that is wrong – who stops his ears to make sure they are not involved in gossip or lies or anything else -- who shuts his eyes to keep from delighting in evil or pursuing evil – who always does what is the highest and most beautiful and right thing before God. This person will receive bread and water every day – this person will receive his daily bread – this person will never lack in need.
What they understood – what made them fear for their eternal lives – is something that many in our country don’t believe anymore – God requires holiness and righteousness, and none of us make the cut.
The author of Hebrews writes, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14, ESV).
How many people will see the Lord who are not holy? None!
Paul writes, “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one’” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV).
God says, in our fallen state, “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5b, ESV).
How then can we become righteous and holy and earn salvation? We can’t.
How can these words be true for us: “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment’” (Revelation 21:6, ESV)?
Paul explains:
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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 5:6-11, ESV).
While the remnant – while we – hated God – while we were enemies of God – God chose the remnant of Jerusalem and Judah and Israel and of all He would cause to believe throughout time and space – and ordained that God the Son would come to earth in the Person of Jesus and live that we would be righteous and die that we would be holy – through Him Alone.
The Psalmist tells us:
“The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:10, ESV).
Remember the history recorded in the Bible. Remember how God killed 185,000 Assyrians. Remember how God killed Ananias and Sapphira. Remember the Holiness and Righteousness of our God, the Judge of the Creation, being thankful for all He has done in saving you – if you are a believer – and being in fear if you are not, because He will have all our of debt to Him paid one way or another. And let us fear for those around us who do not know that our sin proves the necessity of God’s sovereign act of salvation. Tell your family and friends out of love for them. Salvation has to be God’s work alone.
Second, the New Zion is a place of holiness, and physical, mental, and spiritual health.
In the New Zion – the New Jerusalem –
“Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.”
Isaiah tells them that when this life is through and when the New Zion comes, all we who believe will come face to face with a king Who is greater than Hezekiah – the King of true and complete and lasting beauty – complete holiness and glory unmarred by sin.
John describes Him, “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:12-16, ESV).
Do you long for sin and evil to be torn away? To be removed from you like a cancer that seeks to draw you into the depths of damnation with it? Do you hate the sin that still clings to you?
It will be a shock to be sanctified – to be wholly glorified – to be washed clean – to no longer be able to sin again.
When the Assyrians were gone, those in Jerusalem were terrified:
“Your heart will muse on the terror: ‘Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?’ You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.’”
The people of Jerusalem didn’t know what happened. All of a sudden, the enemy was gone. No one was plotting against them. The people who had so arrogantly boasted of Jerusalem’s destruction were gone. The people who spoke in unknown tongues were no longer crying out to the people of Jerusalem. It was silent.
They will not be allowed in the New Zion – in the New Jerusalem.
God tells us:
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8, ESV).
The people who do these things and never repent – never believe in Jesus for salvation, will be excluded from the New Zion. And it will be shocking, because we are so used to sin and death and evil that it seems normal to us. For a second, it will seem like something is missing, and then we will realize that everything that is good and real and true is before us in the Kingdom.
We are called to look forward in hope to the coming of the New Zion – which, unlike the Tabernacle in the wilderness will be immoveable.
We will remember that the Tabernacle – the place of worship for Israel in the wilderness – was a large tent that was set up and staked down as they moved from place to place, but it was not permanent – it was moveable – it was a temporary structure for them to worship in – just as this sinful world is only temporary – it fell due to our sin – but it will be redeemed and restored due to the work of Christ Jesus.
As the author of Hebrews writes, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14, ESV).
“Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.”
We can have confidence in knowing that we will never be apart from Jesus in the Kingdom – in the New Zion. It is eternal, unchangeable, immoveable. It is assured. We have confidence – assurance – of where we will be and the good and the glory of that place. We should long to be there and hope to be there and look forward to being there. The God Who never changes will be there. And the Creation will be healed and made right forever. And we will be changed and made right forever – never more to sin or be effected by the results of sin. There will be no spiritual suffering or mental suffering or physical suffering. All of our iniquity is pardoned in Jesus Christ.
Though we still have this life to live with the good and the bad – evil and sin from others and by our own hands. May we repent and strive after holiness and righteousness.
The New Zion is a place where it is impossible for evil and sin to enter – it is banished and blocked and excluded. Though the rivers and streams are broad and safe, they cannot come in.
“But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.”
It is a place of safety and justice, because God the Lord is the Judge and the Lawgiver and the King. He gives the Law. He judges our compliance with the Law. He executes judgement with regards to the Law. And He cannot be unjust in any of His dealing with us. Besides being the Holy God, He is our loving Father, and our Savior, and the God who enlivens us to spiritual life and salvation.
“For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.”
After King Sennacherib and the Assyrians came against Jerusalem and were defeated by God, the people of the city were unable to function properly due to shock, exhaustion, and stress.
“Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out.”
But God gave them the spoil of the dead Assyrians. When the people understood that the Assyrians were dead and that the king and the rest of his army had retreated back to Nineveh, they went out among the 185,000 and took the things and the money that they had left behind. Everyone in the city took part in enjoying the spoil, even the lame.
“Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.”
Yet, on that final day, when the New Zion comes, all we who believe will inherit the fullness of the Kingdom and be glorified and sanctified, receiving the fullness of the blessing of God – and that will include the banishment of all physical and mental and spiritual sickness. All will be well. All with be right. None will be in pain. All will be healthy. All will be as it was before the fall, but better – never able to sin again.
“And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.”
Let us pray:
Almighty God, help us to understand that Yours Alone is the salvation – and what a great and gracious gift Your Salvation – through Your Son – is. Help us to look forward with great hope to the coming of the New Zion – the restoration of the Creation. And may we not be afraid to tell others Who Jesus is and what He did. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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