https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsMxgspcZuc
Sunday, June 28, 2020
"The Lord's Victory" Sermon: Isaiah 42:10-17 (manuscript)
“The
Lord’s Victory”
[Isaiah
42:10-17]
June
28, 2020 YouTube
After showing that idols can do noting and know nothing,
last week we heard about the coming of the Servant – the Promised Savior –
which would happen some seven hundred years after Isaiah preaches. God makes the point that since He has prophesied
in the past and those prophecies have come to pass, He should be trusted for
prophecies He now makes for the future.
God continues by prophesying about what will happen after
the coming of the Servant.
First, the whole world will sing praise to God.
“Sing
to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth,”
Everyone
on earth is called to sing a new song to the Lord.
The
psalmists talk of singing a new song:
“Shout
for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to
the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing
to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts” (Psalm 33:1-3,
ESV).
A
“new” song is not necessarily one that is brand new, but one that is sung with
joy and exuberance. You are singing this
song because you are filled with joy and a need to sing it.
And
the whole world is called on to praise the Lord – from one end of the earth to
the other – all are to make known Who God is and what He has done.
That
means – even as you are being taking off into captivity. That means – even as you are dealing with Covid.
Captivity is awful. Having Covid is
awful. Whatever bad thing you are going
through is awful. That does not make God
any less deserving of our praise.
Understand: Isaiah is not saying to shake off the sorrow
of exile, or the possibility of sickness and death from Covid, or whatever it
is that you are facing. These things are
real and can bring real-life terrible consequences. Even so, God is worthy of our praise, and we
should give it to Him.
Is
it easy? No. Whoever told you life would be easy? I don’t think it’s easy. Paul said it was like running a marathon or
winning a boxing match.
The
psalmist writes:
“Praise
the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise
him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
“Praise
him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with
tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with
sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that
has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150: 1-6, ESV).
Always. Everything.
Everyone. Praise the Lord.
The
Creation itself gets caught up in the praise of God.
“you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the
coastlands and their inhabitants.”
The people who go down to the sea and the inhabitants of
the coastlands – those would be representative for the Gentiles – the non-Jews
– and all the creatures of the sea – praise the Lord.
“Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the
villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them
shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the LORD, and
declare his praise in the coastlands.”
Isaiah points to Arabia – more Gentiles – the praise of
God is not required just from the Jews – or Christians – it is required of
every person and every creature and all of Creation. From the sea to the mountaintops, God
commands that glory be given to Him – that praise be declared to Him.
Praise
is to be given to God and not to idols.
Why?
“The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war
he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty
against his foes.”
The Lord is like one of the mighty men – strong and brave
– excelling in war. He is a warrior
whose zeal is great – He is focused on achieving the end of His warfare. He is enthused – full of energy and righteousness. He cries as a warrior with a battle cry – He
shouts His victory across the mountains.
He is mighty against His foes. He
is victorious – totally victorious against His foes.
What
are we talking about?
The
initial image is found in the Garden:
Speaking
to the serpent, God says, “I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her
offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis
3:15, ESV).
The
Servant – the Seed of the woman – comes as a warrior to crush the serpent’s
head.
We
see the first part of this work in the Incarnation – in God enfleshed – living
under God’s Law, taking on the sin of all those who will believe, dying,
physically rising, and ascending back to His throne. In this, Jesus defeated the work of the
serpent and secured salvation for God’s people.
When
the Servant returns, He will not come as a lamb to be slaughtered, but as the
victorious lion and warrior:
“For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first” (I Thessalonians 4:16, ESV).
Then,
Paul says, “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in
righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given
assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31, ESV).
This
will be the end of the serpent – the dragon:
“and
the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur
where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10, ESV).
The
result will be that the whole world will sing praise to God:
“Then
I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many
waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For
the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the
glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself
ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’— for the fine linen is the righteous
deeds of the saints” (Revelation 19:6-8, ESV).
Thus,
second, the Lord is victorious.
“For
a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself;”
From
Adam until now – in Jerusalem’s hearing – and to our time as well, God has not
poured out the fullness of His Wrath.
God would have been well within His rights to pour out His Wrath on Adam
and Eve, or Noah, or any mere sinner throughout history – all of us. But God chose to show mercy for the sake of
His people – His elect.
Paul
tells us:
“What
if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured
with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make
known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared
beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but
also from the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24, ESV).
God
holds back the fullness of His Wrath so that all we who believe savingly in the
Servant, Jesus, would better understand the riches that God has prepared for
us.
God
is not allowing the wicked to get away with their sin – He will bring justice
for all sin. But He waits until His
Son’s return so we would know how great the salvation is that He has earned for
us.
But
the day will come when God no longer holds His peace.
“now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp
and pant. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their
vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.”
God says He is like a woman in labor. Eventually, the contractions begin, and there
is gasping and panting. And God gives birth when His Son returns. In great violence, the child comes forth –
the whole Creation goes through a metamorphosis and is renewed as God makes war
on the idolaters and releases His full Wrath upon them.
We remember that Paul says:
“For
the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 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. For we know that the whole creation has been
groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”
(Romans 8:19-23, ESV).
Just as God is in the pains of childbirth, the Creation
is in the pains of childbirth, and all we who believe are in the pains of
childbirth. In the end, Jesus will
return, the wicked will be defeated eternally, and we and the Creation will be
restored, and we will be in the Kingdom of God forever.
Like the parable of the sheep and the goats that Jesus
would tell some seven hundred years later, God says He will divide humans into
two groups:
“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not
know, in paths that they have not known I
will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough
places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”
The chosen people of God – all those who believe in the
Servant for their salvation – God, Himself, with no help from any of us, will
lead and guide us, as one leads a blind person through places he does not know. And God will turn the darkness into light –
He will give sight to the blind and make the rough places level ground.
This is imagery of our salvation – as we probably
recognize – although all infirmities and diseases will be cast away in the
Kingdom, God also opens our spiritually blind eyes and causes us to see that
Jesus as the fulfillment of the promised Savior. And we are never left alone, for God the Holy
Spirit dwells within us to lead us to places we do not know and to mature us in
the faith and to change us into the Image of Jesus.
God says this about the idolaters – those who never
believe savingly in Jesus:
“They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust
in carved idols, who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’”
The other group are the idolaters, and God will turn them
back – they will not go forward into the Kingdom but will take on themselves
the eternal Wrath of God. They will be
put to shame for putting anything in the place of the One True God.
And so, the Lord is victorious over wickedness and all
idols. He sends His Servant to save His people,
and the rest are allowed to continue in their sin and await Hell.
So, let us rejoice in the Lord, always. He has saved us through His Son, and we will
be restored and made holy and healthy for all of eternity when Jesus returns to
judge the world.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the prophecy about the
Servant. We thank You for opening our
eyes and leading us to understand that Jesus is God the Savior, the Servant of
God. We thank You for Your Mercy and
Your leading us by God the Holy Spirit through this life. Help us to look beyond the trials and
troubles of this life and always praise You for Who You are and all that You
have done. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
"The Servant of the Lord" Sermon: Isaiah 42:1-9 (manuscript)
“The
Servant of the Lord”
(Isaiah
42:1-9)
June
14, 2020 YouTube
Last week, we looked at the idolatry of Jerusalem – how
easily they turn from trust in God and put their faith in creations of their
own hands. And God invites them to bring
their idols into the courtroom to judge between God and them – and God is vindicated. The idols do not know the future and they
cannot do anything. God knows everything
that shall be because He has ordained everything that will be.
Now God turns and gives a prophecy about something that
will begin to happen some seven hundred years after the prophecy is given.
First, God tells them His Servant is coming.
“Behold
my servant,”
The
obvious question is, Who is the Servant?
Israel
has been called God’s servant. And Cyrus
is called God’s servant. And these
options are argued for by various people even to this day. However, God reveals Who this is, so we have
no need to wonder. In Matthew’s Gospel,
we read of Jesus:
“But
the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
“Jesus,
aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them
all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken
by the prophet Isaiah:
“’Behold,
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I
will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He
will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a
bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until
he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope’” (Matthew
12:14-21, ESV).
If
we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, inerrant and infallible, superintended
over by God the Holy Spirit over the generations, there is no question as to
Who the Servant is in this text.
So,
“Behold – look – see, My Servant, Jesus!”
“whom
I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Jesus,
the Son and Servant, is upheld by the Father – He is exalted, glorified, filled
with God the Holy Spirit. He is held in
deepest affection by the Father, God delights in Him with His Whole Being. God
the Son is chosen to Incarnate as the vehicle of salvation – it is through Him
and His work alone that any are saved.
We
remember this well at His Baptism:
“And
when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the
heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17, ESV).
And
we remember the angels appearing to the shepherds:
“And
the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great
joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’” (Luke 2:10-11, ESV).
And
His work is to bring justice to all peoples – the Jews and the Gentiles.
What
does that mean?
We
live in a strange time when we don’t understand what justice is. Justice is the impartial assignment of what
is right according to the law.
But
by that definition, Jesus coming to bring justice is terrifying – because sin rightly
deserves eternal punishment according to the Law! However, we must take the whole context into
consideration: Jesus came to take on
justice for all those who would ever believe and to confirm it on those who
never believe:
Jesus
says, “Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only Son of God” (John 3:18, ESV).
What
is the Servant like?
“He
will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a
bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he
will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till
he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.”
Three
characteristics:
First,
He will not come proclaiming Himself; He will not announce Himself with loud
cries. He will not be like the
conquering armies that Jerusalem is used to – who come in screaming, announcing
themselves, making bold announcements of conquest.
No,
Jesus came as a little baby. The only
people who knew about Him were some shepherds and some astrologers. It wasn’t until He was thirty that His
ministry began. Even then, He frequently
told people not to tell anyone Who helped them.
Second, He will support the weak and the broken-hearted.
Jesus does not treat the weak and broken-hearted as
lesser people – as unworthy of His presence.
Rather, He uplifts them, and His heart goes out to them, and He promises
to work through the sparks and smoke to bring forth a blaze of light that shows
others Who He is.
Jesus spoke of His Kingdom and those who were too busy to
come:
“So the servant came and reported these things to his
master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go
out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and
crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded
has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house
may be filled” (Luke 14:21-23, ESV).
The ultimate statement is made as Jesus says, “I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11,
ESV).
Third, He will complete the work He is sent to do.
Jesus is completely human, and He has the same bodily
weaknesses we have, but in His Will and Spirit, He pressed forward to do the
Father’s Will, even when He wished the cup could be taken away. Jesus never turned from the work the Father
sent Him to do – He went forward with joy, as the author of Hebrews tells us –
to see the elect of God – all of His chosen – the sheep of His pasture, saved,
made right with God, and brought into His Kingdom:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so
closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking
to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right
hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV).
This is the Servant God would send: He Who is chosen by God to be the One to come
to proclaim God’s Will. One Who will not
be conceited and push the weak and suffering aside but will gather them close
to Him and eventually restore them to perfect health in His Kingdom. One Who will do everything necessary to save
His people – not just from the horrors of captivity – but from the Wrath of
God. Rather, He will give them His
Righteousness and Holiness and changed them to be like Him and fit for His
Kingdom.
The people of Jerusalem did not know Jesus, but they
understood that Isaiah is proclaiming God’s Word and promise that God will send
a Servant Who will deliver them from every ill and make them right before
God. So there is hope – in the slaughter
of war and in being carried off into captivity – there is hope because God does
not forget His people, and He has sent His Servant to eternally heal and secure
His people to be with Him.
Second, God says that the Servant is sent to glorify God.
And we have three sections:
First, God is the God Who creates and sustains all things,
so He is to be glorified.
“Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and
stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives
breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:”
Before
God created, there is God. Everything
that exists apart from God, God created.
And God caused all life to come to life and God keeps all life
living. Without God continuing intervene
in history and life, nothing would be alive, and nothing would continue to
live.
As
Paul explains, “The
God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as
though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and
breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live
on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel
their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of
us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own
poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” ( Acts 17:24-28, ESV).
Another strike against the idols is
that God created everything that is – including the stuff that the idols are made
from. No idol can claim to be self-existent
and to have existed before everything else existed or to have created
everything in existence, or to be He Who keeps everything living alive for as
long as He wills it. This is God alone.
Second, God calls the Servant to His work and empowers
Him to carry it out, so He is to be glorified.
“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will
take you by the hand and keep you;”
God calls the Servant – God gives Him His mission – God
establishes Him in faithfulness and secures His completion of His mission. God gives the Servant immediate assistance
when He needs it and promises that He will always take His Hand and lead Him in
faithfulness and to the accomplishment of His work. God chose Him and will sustain Him for this
work.
The people of Jerusalem needed to hear this and Jesus
needed to hear this and we need to hear this.
The
people of Jerusalem knew that God promised in the Garden to send a savior – but
they didn’t know who or when, and some assumed that the savior would be a mere
human being. So, to know that God would
supply the ability and secure the outcome of the work of the Savior is an encouragement.
Jesus also needed to hear this because He is at the same
time in One Person the One True God and a real human being – with two natures
and two wills. So, Jesus could be
tempted, He could be afraid and not wish to go ahead – we remember Him in the
Garden asking if there was any other way because He knew the horrors He was
about to face. So, He knows He will be
upheld by God, empowered by God, and He will complete the work of salvation.
And we need to hear this because Jesus is a real human being
– the same as you or me – though He is also God and we are not. But we might be tempted to say that Jesus
doesn’t really understand our temptation because He is also God and God would
prevent Him from ever acting on temptation.
And it is true that Jesus never sinned.
However, He also was truly tempted to sin because the Incarnate God has
two natures and two wills. So, Jesus had
the ability to sin. He had the ability
to abandon the work of the Gospel. So,
He truly understands our temptation and sin – though He doesn’t excuse it.
“I
will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,”
God
says the Servant will be given as a covenant for the people. How can that be? God already made a covenant with Abraham that
God cannot breach.
We
read: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and
your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a
great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will
be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I
will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis
12:1-3, ESV).
The
promise to bless all the nations of the earth – Jews and Gentiles – is an
unconditional promise. God swore to do
what He promised, and nothing was required of any mere human for it to come to
pass.
So,
what does it mean for God to tell the Servant that God is giving Him as a
covenant for the people?
The
answer is found as Paul tells us, “For no one can lay a foundation other than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 3:11, ESV).
And,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16,
ESV).
What
does this add up to?
God
gives the Servant to be the Foundation of the Covenant between God and all
types of humans. Without Jesus, the
Servant, the promise to bless every type of person – with salvation – would not
be possible. So, God is not talking
about a new covenant, but He is explaining what the Abrahamic Covenant stands
on. Without the Servant, Jesus, there is
no salvation.
“to
open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from
the prison those who sit in darkness.”
As
Isaiah has been telling Jerusalem – they are going into captivity, but the day
will come when God will set them free.
John tells us this about the Servant:
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was
coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him,
yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not
receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the
will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:9-13, ESV).
And as John the Baptist is waiting to be executed, he
sends his disciples to Jesus just to double-check to make sure that He is the
Savior – the promised Servant, Jesus says, “And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and
tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame
walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and
the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not
offended by me’” (Matthew 11:4-6, ESV).
Jesus, the Servant of God, is the Light of the
World. He removes the darkness from our
hearts and in that day and on the Final Day, He will remove the darkness from
our bodies, and we will be filled with His Light never to experience the
effects of sin again.
And third, God alone is to be glorified and He will only
allow Himself to be glorified.
“I
am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to
carved idols.”
God
speaks using the same Name He told Moses, “I AM” (YHWH). And what God says should immediately remind
them of what God said regarding idolatry to Moses:
“You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the
fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands
of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6, ESV).
God
will not share His Glory with anyone or anything else. God will not deny Himself – all glory is His.
We
remember that last week we saw that God defines covetousness as idolatry and
says that those who remain unrepentant in their idolatry will not be welcomed
into the Kingdom but will suffer the Wrath of God.
Why? Because only God is God, and God knows all
things and causes all things to come to pass.
And we come full circle:
“Behold,
the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they
spring forth I tell you of them.”
God
says that He prophesied things that would come to pass that the people of
Jerusalem know came to pass, so it only makes sense to trust God for the
promises that He has made concerning the future yet to come – including the
coming of the Servant Savior.
And
to us, let us turn away from all those things we talked about last week that
are idols for us – all those things that we covet.
As God continues to condemn idolatry, let us remember
that God promised to send the humble Servant Savior to bring the Father’s
promise to pass regarding the salvation of His people. And let us recognize that the Servant did
come in the Person of Jesus, and we are now sent out by Him, filled with God
the Holy Spirit Who leads us and strengthens us and brings God’s promise to
pass that there is salvation in Jesus alone – and one day He will return to
judge all those who have ever lived throughout time and space. Those who have believed in the Servant will
be received into God’s Kingdom, and those who reject Him will receive God’s
Eternal Wrath.
The Servant of the Lord proves that God is greater than
idols and worthy of all glory for the salvation He gifts us.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we are humbled as You reveal Yourself and
Your Sovereign Plan throughout history.
Help us to trust You and to follow You always. Strengthen us by the power of God the Holy
Spirit and lead us in all holiness that You would be known and glorified. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
"The Futility of Idols" Sermon: Isaiah 41:21-29 (manuscript)
“The
Futility of Idols”
(Isaiah
41:21-29)
June
14, 2020 YouTube
We return to our look at the book of Isaiah this morning,
and we will remember that God tells Jerusalem that in the coming days they will
be conquered by the Babylonians and taken into captivity for seventy years. God comforts Jerusalem by telling them that
God’s Word never fails, and the Character of God never changes. God is Absolutely Sovereign over all things –
nothing like an idol. So, God tells them
not to fear the exile, but to trust that God will raise them up such that they
defeat their captors.
At this point in the text, God invites any who would turn
to idols for their protection and salvation to come into the courtroom of God
and plead their case. God promises to
deliver them from captivity after seventy years – what can idols do?
As we turn to our text, we see:
First, God, alone, knows all things.
“Set forth your case, says the LORD; bring your proofs,
says the King of Jacob. Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell
us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may
know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to
come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that
we may be dismayed and terrified.”
God, Who is the King of Jacob, opens the court case and tells
those who put their faith in idols to bring them into the court room that they
may testify to why they are more to be believed than God.
God asks them to explain the superiority of idols: can they predict the future?
“Do you know what will happen in the former days – in the
near future?”
Silence.
“Do you know what will happen in the future for this
generation?”
Silence.
“Can you tell us – do you know what will happen in the
distant future?”
Silence.
“If you are gods, you should be able to tell us –
accurately – what the future will be.”
Silence.
“If you are gods, you should be able to make something
good happen – or something bad happen – so we would be dismayed and terrified.”
Silence.
“Can’t you do anything to prove that you are gods?”
Silence.
God responds, “Behold, you are nothing, and your work is
less than nothing; an abomination is he
who chooses you.”
How can anyone trust something that can’t do
anything? How can anyone trust a god
that does not know the future?
How can someone worship and trust a piece of stone or
wood?
Anyone who worships and idol is an abomination. Anyone who worships an idol disgusts God and is
the object of God’s hatred.
And we might think, “Oh, well. That’s the olden days. We don’t worship idols anymore.”
What do you trust?
We need to be very careful – what do you think will bring
you through?
Do you believe that the United States of America will
never fall? Nations and civilizations
fall throughout history.
Do you believe that our government will never fail? Our leaders rise and fall all the time.
Do you believe you are fine because your money is in a
good bank? Banks fail.
“But my money is insured by the United Sates
government!” But, if the government
falls, that is meaningless, and your money is lost.
“Well, I have tenure – or, I’m a CEO.” And your job can be lost in a moment.
So, what is an idol in your life?
But it’s not just things, is it? God says it’s our attitude as well:
Paul writes to the Christians at Colossae:
“Put
to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians ESV).
Covetousness
is idolatry.
Covetousness
is saying to yourself that you deserve something that someone else has more
than they do. It’s one step past
jealousy which says that you deserve what someone else has. Covetousness says you deserve it more that the
person who has it. It’s saying why did
so-and-so get this or that when I am more deserving – needy – whatever – than
they are.
It
is idolatry.
When
you get your grades back and your classmate gets a better grade than you did
and you think, “Why did she get a better grade than I did? I should have gotten that grade – not her – I
put in more effort and did better work than she did.”
When
your neighbor wins the lottery and you think, “Why did he win the lottery? I’m a better person that he is. I do more good works that he does. I should have won the lottery instead of
him.”
When
you think, “Why does my co-worker make six figures? I am better educated and work harder and have
more clients – I should make that salary, not him.”
That
is covetousness. That is idolatry.
God
hates and is disgusted by idolatry.
Our
idols do not know the future – they cannot be counted only – they cannot do
good or evil and amaze with their power, because they are nothing. Those desires are nothing. Those things are nothing. All of them are like the blowing of a breeze
and bring down God’s Wrath.
God,
alone, knows all things.
Second,
God, alone, causes all things to come to pass.
And now God testifies:
“I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from
the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on
rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.”
Who is God talking about – the one who comes from the
north and from the east – “from the rising of the sun”? Who is this who calls upon the Name of the
Lord and tramples the nations?
The person who fits this description is Cyrus, King of
the Medo-Persians.
How can he be from the north and the east?
Cyrus was born about 600 B.C. is what we now call Iran –
which is east of Israel. And by 540
B.C., he had conquered the Babylonian Empire which ran from Egypt to India –
across the north of Israel – which was the pathway of attack.
Daniel was taken into captivity to Babylon in 605 B.C.
and remained there until Cyrus freed Israel in 538 B. C. (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/daniel-taken-babylon/)
Daniel foretold the conquering of the Babylonians by Darius the Mede and his
co-emperor, Cyrus, according to the revelation of the Plan of God:
“That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.
And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old” (Daniel
5:30-31, ESV).
And Ezra tells us that God compelled Cyrus to acknowledge
Him and to set Israel free:
“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word
of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up
the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout
all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
“’Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of
heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to
build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all
his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is
in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God
who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be
assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with
beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem’”
(Ezra 1:1-4, ESV).
And this was as Jeremiah had prophesied during the reign
of Zedekiah, and before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem (cf. Jeremiah
25:12, et. al.).
So, God is the One Who ordained Cyrus to come and conquer
the Empire of Babylon.
“Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and
beforehand, that we might say, ‘He is right’? There was none who declared it,
none who proclaimed, none who heard your words.”
God ordained everything that comes to pass before the
Creation – God began with a plan that is unfolding exactly as He planned it from
before the Creation. And we know it is before the Creation because God says no
one was there to hear the plan.
So, God is the One Who prophesies the near future and the
future to come and the future in the latter days.
“I was the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are! ‘and
I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.”
God is the One to Whom we answer, “Look, this is just as
God said! This is exactly what God said
would happen!”
And God – not any idol – God gives Jerusalem good news
about their return from captivity before they are taken away. God gives them good news so they can hold
onto it and know it is true and certain and will come to pass as God is
willing.
On Maundy Thursday when everything seems to be going sideways
and the disciples are beginning to panic, Jesus says, “’Let not your hearts be
troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will
take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to
where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are
going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had
known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and
have seen him’” (John 14:1-7, ESV).
Jesus tells them and He tells us, “Don’t worry, God the
Father and I are the same One God.
Things are not out of control.
Everything is happening as it was planned. And now I am going to prepare a place for you,
and I will return and bring you there because I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life, and there is no salvation except through believing that I am God and
Savior.”
God, alone, causes all things to come to pass.
Do you check your horoscope – just for fun?
Do you use a Ouija board or Tarot cards?
Do you call a psychic?
Do you have lucky charms – not the cereal?
God looks for a rebuttal for the idol worshippers, “But
when I look, there is no one; among these there is no counselor who, when I
ask, gives an answer. Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.”
After God speaks, He turns and waits for a response, but
the silence continues. The idols have to
wisdom – no knowledge to give. They are
a delusion – they are not a thing. They
are not beings – they are not gods. They
are a bunch of hot air.
But your neighbors are looking to them as if they hold
the secrets to the universe!
Rabbits feet are lucky!
Black cats give you bad luck.
I have a friend who doesn’t pick up coins that are face
down, because you never know.
God allows us to follow after absurdities – idolatry – so
He will be shown to be righteous in His condemnation of those who never believe
in Jesus, the Savior.
Paul
writes, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe
what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thessalonians 2:11-12, ESV).
God gives Jerusalem a strong example of why not to follow
after idols. God, alone, knows all
things. Idols know nothing – they sit
there in dumb silence. God, alone,
causes all things to come to pass. Idols
do nothing – they are empty and immobile.
Let us put away out idols – whether they be physical
things, covetousness, or superstitions.
They are useless – less than useless – they lead to condemnation.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for Your witness against idols
and idolatry, and we thank You that Jesus secured our salvation long before we
foolishly tried to get answers or action from any idol. May the Holy Spirit increase our trust in the
Only One Who is trustworthy, the One Almighty God, and may we be ever looking
to Your Word for wisdom and guidance.
For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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