"Judgment and Glory" Sermon: Isaiah 66:15-24 (manuscript)

 

“Judgement and Glory”

[Isaiah 66:15-24]

August 27, 2023 YouTube

          As we conclude this look at the book of Isaiah, we see God’s judgment upon the wicked, both in the return from Babylon and on the last day, and the Glory of God in saving a chosen remnant out of Babylon and out of the whole world throughout time and space.

          First, those who dwell in idolatry will reap the anger, fire, and sword of the Lord.

“For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. ‘Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together,’ declares the LORD.”

It has been commented that human history is bracketed by a holy sword.  After Adam’s sin in the Garden, we read, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gensis 3:24, ESV).

Here we read that the Lord will come in fire, in His anger and rebuke of fire, with fire in judgment, and with His sword with which He will slay many. Why was His anger against Israel then and against all those who never believe between the Garden and the Judgement?

God said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 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 20:2-6, ESV).

And John records of the last day, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:15-16, ESV).

Here we see both the image of the wicked being tread in the winepress – which we have seen before – and the image of Jesus coming with the sword to strike down the nations – those who never believe in Him for salvation.

We also read, “This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (II Thessalonians 1:5-8, ESV).

And “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” (II Peter 3:7, ESV).

God called all humans to have reverence for God’s Word – to believe, honor, and obey the God of the Bible – and to worship Him alone.  We have all turned to worshiping an idol at one – many – times or another. As we just saw, idolatry is forbidden – even idolatry that is tried to be passed off as reverence.

We will remember the self-righteous Pharisee we looked at a few weeks ago who boasted of his righteousness and holiness – out loud – in front of others in the Temple. Now we see those who pretend to be holy and pure according to the Word of God committing idolatry by following the unbelievers to the gardens of pagan worship and by eating pig’s flesh and mice.

Do you revere the Word of God?  Do you strive by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in you not to sin – not to commit idolatry?  Have you believed in Jesus as God the Savior? If you repent, you will be forgiven as a son or daughter of God – a brother or sister of Jesus.  If not, you will receive fire and a sword from the Lord.

John records, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15, ESV).

Some will say they don’t want to hear about this “fire and brimstone,” but Jesus talked about it out of love for the elect and His Father.  No one talked more about Hell than Jesus, and He did so to clarify before all what it is to reverence God’s Word and to turn His people from sin and idolatry.

Those who dwell in idolatry will reap the anger, fire, and sword of the Lord – now to some degree, and on the last day, completely and eternally.

Second, every human will see the Glory of the Lord and worship Him.

“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.”

All humans will see the Glory of the Lord and worship Him – and that will include the elect of Israel – all those believers who returned from Babylon who believed in the Servant Savior that Isaiah prophesied – and – Gentiles – people from the nations will also see and worship – and members of the believing remnant of Israel will bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations and the coastlands.

God says He will send the believing survivors – the remnant – to all the nations – including Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal and Javan.  The believing remnant will go to preach the Glory and the salvation of the Lord, and they will go on horses and litters and mules and camels, and they will be brought to Zion -- Jerusalem, “just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”  God use the image of bringing a clean – righteous and holy – vessel into the Temple – indicating that the Gentiles are cleansed in the same way the Jews are.  And God makes the shocking statement, “And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites,” to show that even with respect to the guarded class of people able to function as priests, there are Gentiles who will qualify just as Jew have for years.

Paul explains that the bringing in of the Gentiles into the household of God – the people of God – will make the Jews jealous and cause many for them to repent and come back to the Lord.

“So I ask, did [Israel] stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:11-15, ESV).

What do we conclude?  Just as the believing remnant would be sent out to bring the truth of the Glory of God to the Gentiles, so we are called to bring the truth of the Glory of the Gospel to all peoples.  God is bringing a remnant out of all the world -- out of all the peoples – the ones He has chosen according to His Will, and He has chosen to use human beings to bring the truth of the One salvation to the world.

Every mere human being throughout time and space is a sinner, and there is only Salvation in the Servant Savior, Jesus.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.”

When the Lord comes on the last day to bring His people into the fulness of the Kingdom, He will make new heavens and a new earth, and in the new heavens and new earth, the people throughout the generations who believe in the Savior and the reputation as being people of the Lord will remain forever and forever.

From new moon to new moon and Sabbath to Sabbath, every human being will worship before the Lord.  Month to month and Sabbath to Sabbath – from the day set aside to worship the Lord and Him Alone to the day set aside to worship the Lord and Him Alone, every human being will worship before the Lord.

Peter writes, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (II Peter 3:10-13, ESV).

John writes, “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 21:1-4, ESV).

And Paul says that every human will worship before the Lord, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11, ESV).

 Isaiah and the New Testament writers that have been quoted say that every human being will worship the Lord – how can that be?  There are a great number of unbelievers who die in their unbelief – can we say that they will worship the Lord as well?  Yes – that is what the Scripture says.  How exactly that will occur is not clearly stated – whether it will be through their eternal suffering that proclaims the Holiness and Jstice of Jesus or something else – that is not clear here.

Isaiah ends his book:

“And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

One commentator asks if we are to believe there is a graveyard outside of the New Jerusalem.  That is quite unlikely.

Rather, what makes more sense is to says that the elect of God will know all those who have been struct by the fire and sword of the Lord and cast into Hell for the sin of never believing in Jesus as Savior.  The believing remnant will know those who fell away after the Babylonian Captivity.  And the chosen will know and believe that the fate of those who never believe is eternal torment. And the believers will be repulsed by them, and they will loath them.

The one thing the righteous are not to do – and it may be why they are known as they saved go out – the righteous are not to gloat over the fact that they are not in suffering with them.  Every mere human being is a sinner and deserves to be in the same Hell – no one has a reason to be smug about those who denied Jesus – we are only saved by the work and choice of us by the Triune God – not for any merit we have ever had.

It is the opposite that those who go by and know the eternal suffering of the wicked:  In humility, we ought to find ourselves in a state of solemnity by those who are damned to Hell.  Our mouths ought to be shut and we ought to find ourselves humbled and prostrated before our God.

As the seraphim eternally sing: “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV).

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You that You are both Holy and a Merciful God.  We thank You for being forever Holy, Holy, Holy, and for choosing a people for Yourself who will be with You in the new heavens and the new earth.  Help us to worship in humility and joy.  Strengthen us by the Holy Spirit that we would go to the ends of the earth to spread Your Gospel.  And let us bear with Your Fatherly Hand when we need discipline.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.