The Oracles: Judgment & Redemption • 06.02.24
Nick Lees   -   June 4, 2024

Click Here for The Isaiah Overview Sermon from the Beginning of the Series

The Oracles: Judgment & Redemption
Isaiah 13-23

Learning to worship and trust in God alone

  1. Admit your view of God is far too small
  2. Know that rebellion invites God’s judgment
  3. Embrace the way of redemption God provides

The Oracles: Judgment & Redemption
Isaiah 13-23

Good morning church family! It is good to be back with you this morning. Our family had a wonderful time on vacation (photos), getting to see our new niece and family in Charleston, SC, as well as spending a week in Wilmington, NC with a lot of beach time. I’m so thankful for Pastor Jack preaching the word over the last two weeks. It was a blessing for my family to sit under his teaching of the Word of God. We even listened to one of the sermons in the car so we wouldn’t miss out!

For those of you who are new today, welcome! My name is Pastor Nick and I have the privilege of preaching God’s Word this morning. We just wrapped up an 8-week series in the letters of 1-3 John and we are now returning to our primary sermon series for the year – The Lord Saves, which is a study of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. Prior to Easter Sunday, we spent 10 weeks in this book, studying chapters 1-12. Our aim is to get through chapter 39 by the end of September with chapters 40-66 coming next year.

Today I’ll be taking us through 11 chapters at a higher level, looking at the major themes and lessons to glean from them.

Before we go any further, why don’t I…

Dismiss 4th + 5th graders

Ushers + Bibles (Isaiah 13; page 684)

  • Mention special offering next Sunday, 6/9 for one of our missionaries doing work in a closed country overseas. For their safety I cannot mention their name now. But if you’d like more information, please email missions@harvestdesmoines.org.
  • Mention Grimes’ parade on Sat, 6/8 (10-12pm) and encourage outreach at it

Have you given much thought to the title of our sermon series? “The Lord Saves.” Not only is that the meaning of Isaiah’s name, but it is also the thrust of this book. The Lord saves. Not the idols the people were tempted to worship. Not the foreign nations they were tempted to turn to for help. Certainly not their own strength or might. These things could not save, only the Lord saves.

If you took the time to read chapters 13-23 prior to today, you might say it is a bit shocking to our modern sensibilities. There is a lot of judgment and destruction of the nations in these chapters. And yet, this is not a new concept to the book of Isaiah. In our first 10 sermons in this series, we’ve seen repeatedly that God is both Judge and Savior. The testimony of Scripture is that God exists and has revealed his standard of righteousness. And he holds humanity accountable when they fail to follow it. As we will see today, that is not limited to Israel/Judah, that extends to all nations. Everyone answers to the Most High! As we will see in the weeks ahead, the whole world comes under God’s righteous judgment.

If you were here earlier in the year, you know why this happens. Rebellion against God. Repeatedly God has pointed out the sin of humanity of turning away from trusting and obeying Him to do whatever is right in their own eyes. The Israelites/Judeans were struggling with repeated disobedience against God and had been going through the motions of their faith/religion. This struggle is not unique to them. The nations around them had also committed grievous evils against the One, True God and had invited his response.

Throughout the book of Isaiah, we are seeing themes and teachings of God’s perfect holiness and our sinfulness. There is a massive disconnect between us and God known as sin, and it rightfully invites God’s judgment into our lives. What do you expect to happen when you disobey the greatest possible authority in the Universe? The just and right response is for God to deal with that rebellion.

However, alongside this theme of rebellion and judgment, we’ve seen interwoven the hope that God will save. He has held out the beautiful promise to purify the repentant, those who confess their sins and turn to him in faith. And He has shown us that his end goal is a world that is full of peace, where there is no more war, and all worship him.

Isaiah 2:2–4 (ESV)

   2      It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

          shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

          and all the nations shall flow to it,

   3            and many peoples shall come, and say:

 

          “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

          that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

          For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

 

   4      He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

          and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

          nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

Do you recall God’s call to action in the very next verse?

Isaiah 2:5 (ESV)

5      O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

The hope that God has held out through Isaiah is that he will refine and restore his people. His plan to purify them will not fail. He is doing a good work, and even the greatest, most proud rulers or nations on earth cannot stand in the way of it. But boy do they try, don’t they!? Yet God will accomplish all His holy will, which is to create a people for Himself and to dwell in perfect relationship with those people.

So, as we study these chapters today, I want you to keep the end in mind. The end that God is taking all of history towards – a people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation as we see in Revelation 7:

Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

This is just like what Isaiah declared in 11:10-11 when he revealed the root of Jesse who would stand as a signal for the peoples and that people from many nations would come to him.

God will make a people for himself, and He will dwell in perfect relationship with that people for all eternity. And he will not let that plan be thwarted. So please carry this larger biblical framework into your study of these chapters today. Much more could be said about the grand redemption plan of God, but I’m going to stop there for now so we can address the text at hand.

There is a reason why we chose to tackle these chapters together. These 11 chapters are known as The Oracles because they are broken up by the repeated phrase, “The oracle concerning…” Followed by the nation being addressed – Babylon. Philistia. Moab. Damascus. Cush. And so on. Another word for oracle would be pronouncement or declaration. God is making declarations about what is or will happen to these nations. Most, if not all of these, we believe to have been declared prior to the events happening. However, not many dates are given, nor is it laid out chronologically, so it is possible one or more of them were revealed after the fact.

These oracles were given by God to the prophet Isaiah so that he could share them with the nation of Judah. They were divine warnings to Judah. “Do not put your hope in men. Do not turn to the nations to deliver you. Do not think that your idolatry can save you.” WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! THIS PATH WILL NOT SATISIFY. IT WILL NOT END WELL FOR YOU.

Because God loves his people, he gives them prophetic warnings that, as they occur in human history, reveal that he was speaking the truth! What other God goes to such great lengths to warn and save His people?! None but Yahweh!

God has Isaiah share these oracles with the nation of Judah because they were repeatedly tempted to turn away from worshiping and trusting in God to worship and trust in the nations around them, or the false gods of those nations, or even their own wisdom and strength. They were proud, not humble. We’ve already seen this happen with King Ahaz back in chapter 7. When faced with the threat of the Israel/Syria combined army at his door, he dismissed God’s invitation to trust Him for deliverance. Instead, he wrote a letter to the King of Assyria and sent a bunch of gold/silver from God’s temple to solicit his help! That didn’t end well, for Ahaz or for the King of Assyria. God judged them both.

And now, in chapters 13-23, God is going to graciously warn the nation of Judah once more that it is utter folly to turn to and trust in anything other than the One, True God. The Lord saves, no one else. Trust in Him!

Quick walkthrough of the chapters: (MAP – Geography of Isaiah)

  • 13-14 – Oracle primarily against Babylon + Philistia
    • The superpower who took over after Assyria
    • King Hezekiah of Judah tried to ally with Babylon, even though God had already warned them not to trust foreign nations!
    • Specific date ~715 BC when talking about Philistia
  • 15-16 – Oracle against Moab
    • Just across the Dead Sea to the east of Judah
    • Descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, but had a decidedly mixed history with Israel
    • Both Isaiah and God lament as he conquers them.
    • In their pride they refused God’s offer of protection.
  • 17 – Prophecy against Damascus (nation of Syria) + Ephraim (Israel)
    • Most of this chapter is aimed at the northern kingdom of Israel who allied with Syria against Judah.
  • 18-20 – All look south (Cush/Ethiopia – 18; Egypt – 19-20)
    • NE – Assyria/Babylon/Persia were the superpowers
    • SW – Egypt was the superpower
    • Israel stuck between them
  • 21 – Prophecy against Babylon again + Dumah (Idumea/Edomites) + Arabia
  • 22 – Prophecy against Jerusalem (“Valley of Vision”)
    • They trusted in their own strength/ability rather than the Lord.
  • 23 – Prophecy against coastal cities north of Jerusalem – Tyre + Sidon

 

In every direction around Judah, even including Judah, the nations have been judged and found wanting. Yet in the midst of the judgment, God holds out the hope of redemption!

With that lengthy introduction in mind, let’s turn our attention to the aim for our time together. Today we are…

Learning to worship and trust in God alone

It begins with the oracle concerning Babylon in chapter 13. Look with me at the start of this oracle:

Isaiah 13:1–5 (ESV)

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

   2      On a bare hill raise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

          wave the hand for them to enter

the gates of the nobles.

   3      I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.

   4      The sound of a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

          The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

          The Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

   5      They come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

          the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.

This chapter and those that follow it reveal that God gave Isaiah divine revelation or foreknowledge of what was to come. And as you just heard, God is summoning the nations to come and conquer Babylon. God uses language to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is his hand behind it. “I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men…” “The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle”… “the Lord and the weapons of his indignation”…

Later in verse 17, he says:

Isaiah 13:17 (ESV)

17      Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

Isaiah 14:22–23 (ESV)

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

If you know your ancient history, then you know that the Medes partnered with the Persians to conquer Babylon! This oracle came to pass and is now world history.

Of Philistia, God reveals his superseding hand when he says, “I will kill your root with famine and your remnant it will slay.” (14:30)

Or of Moab, he says:

Isaiah 15:9 (ESV)

   9      For the waters of Dibon are full of blood;

for I will bring upon Dibon even more,

          a lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.

God takes ownership for the destruction of these nations. He is the one who oversaw their desolation, even though it came at the hands of foreign nations. God is revealing that He is not just the Lord over Israel/Judah but the Lord over all the earth. Every nation, every ruler, answers to God. There is no higher authority than Yahweh!

Look at how God also uses his authority and power to protect.

Isaiah 17:12–14 (ESV)

12      Ah, the thunder of many peoples;

they thunder like the thundering of the sea!

          Ah, the roar of nations;

they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

13      The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

          chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind

and whirling dust before the storm.

 

14      At evening time, behold, terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

          This is the portion of those who loot us,

and the lot of those who plunder us.

God is also the one who protects his people. Even though they were guilty and had invited the Assyrians to their doorsteps, God rebuked the Assyrians, and they did flee away. God sent an angel who killed 185,000 of the Assyrian troops in a single night, which led to the Assyrian army fleeing Judah back to their home country. In a short order after that, King Sennacherib was killed in his own pagan temple, just as God said he would be. God did it! Just as he said he would! And the secular records of history confirm it to be true!

Or how about chapter 19 when Egypt comes into focus?

Isaiah 19:1–4 (ESV)

An oracle concerning Egypt.

          Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

          and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

 

THIS WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST TIME! God has done this before to the Egyptians in the Exodus events earlier in history.

 

   2      And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

and they will fight, each against another

and each against his neighbor,

city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

   3      and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

and I will confound their counsel;

 

          and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and the mediums and the necromancers;

   4      and I will give over the Egyptians

into the hand of a hard master,

          and a fierce king will rule over them,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

God promises to oppose the Egyptians in all their might and power. He knows Judah will be tempted to turn to them for help in their times of need. So, God, through Isaiah, warns them of the futility of it. And, sure enough, though we don’t know the exact intended fulfillment of this oracle, from 720-711 BC Egypt suffered internal divisions, defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians (Cushites), and its own internal unrest from the Egyptian ruler Osorkan IV. History once again bears out the fulfillment of God’s Word.

This doesn’t even cover all the possible examples from these 11 chapters. *pause*

Why did I share this with you this morning? Because there is a lesson that comes screaming off the pages of these 11 chapters… A lesson that Judah had to learn and a lesson that is still incredibly relevant to us today… As we are learning to worship and trust in God alone, you must…

  1. Admit your view of God is far too small

This must be our confession this morning. We like to keep God stuck in our little box that we can make sense of. We struggle to comprehend the depth and the height and the width and the breadth of His majesty and splendor. Or to put it more specifically based on what we are reading today… We must admit only Yahweh is sovereign. (repeat) He alone is the supreme ruler over all. He alone possesses ultimate power. There is none like him and certainly none greater than Him.

Consider again the Lord’s power and purposes as revealed in Isaiah 14:

Isaiah 14:24–27 (ESV)

24      The Lord of hosts has sworn:

          “As I have planned,

so shall it be,

          and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

25      that I will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

          and his yoke shall depart from them,

and his burden from their shoulder.”

26      This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

          and this is the hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

27      For the Lord of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

          His hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

The testimony of Isaiah has been that God alone is sovereign! As he plans, so shall it be. As he purposes, so shall it stand. Whether that is tearing down rulers and nations or protecting and providing for his people. His purposes are not small, they encompass the whole earth. His hand is stretched out, not over a small portion of land, but over all the nations. Who will annul God’s purposes or turn back God’s hand? The answer is NO ONE! No one can and no one will.

How do you respond to such a God? Does this teaching cause you to have great apprehension and fear in your heart? Or does it invite you towards awe and wonder?

I suppose a big part of our answer is dependent on what kind of God this is, right? The answer as revealed in these chapters of Isaiah is that He is a just and righteous God. Consider…

Isaiah 13:9–13 (ESV)

   9      Behold, the day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

          to make the land a desolation

and to destroy its sinners from it.

10      For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

 

11      I will punish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

          I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12      I will make people more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

13      Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

          at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

Not easy to hear or read, is it? But you must understand, this is God responding to us. He is responding in justice and righteousness to the wicked rebellion of people he made and called to live holy lives. The testimony of Scripture is that God made all things, and that humanity has rebelled against Him. As the highest authority and perfectly righteous King over Creation, he is responding as is right and just to those who have rebelled against Him.

It is also important to know that God opposes the proud. He does not delight to see sinful men and women using their might and authority to hurt others. So, as these nations amass power and utilize it to brutalize others and demean fellow image-bearers of God, God acts to address it. We see one such example in the fall of Babylon. Listen to how God speaks about how the nations respond to this wicked empire’s collapse:

Isaiah 14:4–7 (ESV)

4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

          “How the oppressor has ceased,

the insolent fury ceased!

   5      The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers,

   6      that struck the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

          that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

   7      The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

they break forth into singing.

Just a few verses later we read…

Isaiah 14:12–17 (ESV)

12      “How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

          How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13      You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

          above the stars of God

I will set my throne on high;

          I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;

14      I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

 

15      But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

16      Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

          ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17      who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who did not let his prisoners go home?’

God does not allow man’s pride to continue unchecked. He opposes the proud and brings them low. Whether that is Babylon, Moab, Egypt, Israel, Judah, or nations and people in our day and age… God opposes the proud. He is consistent in applying His standard. Which brings us to our second takeaway for today in learning to worship and trust in God alone…

  1. Know that rebellion invites God’s judgment

As the King of Kings, God alone judges sin. Everyone ultimately answers to Him. And before you charge him with being unkind or unjust in his judgment, remember he is simply responding to our rebellion against Him!

“But I don’t rebel against God!” Oh, don’t you? You’re telling me you live a perfect life? That you never think of yourself first and most? That every single day, throughout the entire day, you’re a servant of God and others? Always choosing the path that pleases Him? I hate to break it to you, but if that is your position, then you now need to repent for lying.

God’s own testimony against us is revealed in Romans 3, which is a quote of Psalm 14:

Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)

10 as it is written:

          “None is righteous, no, not one;

11            no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12      All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

The words of God against Moab in Isaiah 16 could easily be said of each one of us:

Isaiah 16:6 (ESV)

   6      We have heard of the pride of Moab—

how proud he is!—

          of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

in his idle boasting he is not right.

Yet, even in our pride and wicked rebellion against Him, God does not delight in our judgment or destruction. In these 11 chapters, we see several times where God uses language to indicate his sorrow, even as he carries out what is right and just. He laments to see the works of His hands turn against Him. God’s desire is that all would confess their sin and turn and follow Him.

God’s judgment is always purposeful. He is aiming to have His people turn back to Him.

Isaiah 17:7-8 (ESV)

7 In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.

They had forgotten the God of their salvation, but He is calling them back to Him. He loves them enough to remove every false hope that they are tempted to turn towards… Foreign rulers/nations, destroyed. False religions/idolatry, torn down. Self-reliance/strength, humiliated. His judgment of the port cities of Tyre and Sidon was a reminder of the fleeting nature of the treasures and pleasures of this life. In all their prosperity, they could not withstand the judgment of the King of Kings.

Isaiah 23:8–9 (ESV)

   8      Who has purposed this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

          whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth?

   9      The Lord of hosts has purposed it,

to defile the pompous pride of all glory,

to dishonor all the honored of the earth.

The point is there is no eternal hope found in these things. We were made for so much more!

God will not allow His people to find satisfaction in anything other than Him! He will not allow them to worship and trust in anything other than Him! Because He alone is worthy of worship, and He alone provides true, eternal life! *pause*

In fact, there comes a point where the oracles are broken up by a piece of narrative in chapter 20. God had Isaiah share his calling to walk naked and barefoot for 3 YEARS! How’d you like that calling!? But there was a purpose for it.

Isaiah 20:3–6 (ESV)

3 Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.

5 Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’ ”

What could be more humiliating for these once mighty nations? And notice how those who trusted in them are also dismayed! This is the question that God is driving His people towards – “This is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help… and we, how shall we escape?” Now we’re getting somewhere! How shall we escape if even the mightiest rulers or superpowers of our day are able to be struck down and destroyed? Where can we possibly turn for true hope and life?

Once again, God has provided the answer. It showed up throughout these 11 chapters.

Isaiah 14:1 (ESV)

For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

Isaiah 14:32 (ESV)

32      What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

          “The Lord has founded Zion,

and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Isaiah 16:3–5 (ESV)

   3      “Give counsel;

grant justice;

          make your shade like night

at the height of noon;

          shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

   4      let the outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

          be a shelter to them

from the destroyer.

 

          When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

          and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

   5      then a throne will be established in steadfast love,

and on it will sit in faithfulness

in the tent of David

          one who judges and seeks justice

and is swift to do righteousness.”

Rely on God alone! He has a plan to show compassion on His people and to restore them. But, as a further unveiling of His grand plan of redemption, Isaiah makes it clear that there is hope for the nations as well! As we heard earlier in Revelation 7, God is making a people for Himself from every tongue, tribe, and nation… So as we are learning to worship and trust in God alone, we must…

  1. Embrace the way of redemption God provides

God’s plan of redemption has not changed throughout the ages. It has been the same from eternity past. It always was and always is and always will be through faith in Him.

God alone is our hope. The nations will fail you. Idols will fail you. Your own strength and prosperity will fail you. To be the people of God you must forsake trusting in these to trust in God alone. This was the rebuke that God had for the people in Judah…

Isaiah 22:8–11 (ESV)

   8      He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

Stop trusting in your own abilities! Stop thinking you know better than God! Trust Him. Look to Him. He is working out His plan of redemption and the way forward is through faith in Him.

Just a bit ago, I read from chapter 16, where the hope held out, even to a nation like Moab, was the One who judges and seeks justice as He sits on the throne of David. One who is swift to do righteousness. One who sits on a throne established in steadfast love.

He’s not talking about King David. He’s talking about the Messiah. The One who was yet to come, but whom we know has come. Jesus Christ.

God’s greatest demonstration of His sovereignty was in sending His own Son to be the Savior of the world. God’s plan from eternity past was to rescue and redeem His people, despite their rebellion against Him! Christian, do not disdain God’s sovereignty, for it has led to your salvation! And it is the hope of salvation that God extends to the nations through Jesus Christ. Men and women, young and old, from many different backgrounds are still being called to eternal life to this day. And it is our privilege, as Christians, to be a part of God’s mission to save the nations. Your faithfulness to worship and trust in God alone will provide you with opportunities to share the call to repent and believe in Jesus.

For all of us, the call from Isaiah 13-23 is to confess your sin and believe in God’s provision for salvation. His way of redemption. Believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. As we heard in our study of 1 John, it is possible to know with certainty that you have eternal life in Him. What is it that is keeping you from turning from your sin and believing in Him today? And for those who already believe, what will you do to accomplish the mission he’s given you?

Nations rise and fall. Idols fail to satisfy. Your own strength and prosperity will not last forever. But the Lord is sovereign. He satisfies. He alone saves! Trust in Him. Turn to Him. Confess where you are tempted to trust in things other than God for help in time of need.

God’s plan has always been to make a people for himself and to be in relationship with that people. The book of Isaiah continues to reveal this beautiful truth, even through hard chapters filled with oracles of judgment and redemption. God’s plan to rescue and redeem His people will not be thwarted. He will not let anyone, or anything stand in the way of it, whether national superpowers or individual men and women. He will do what is necessary to humble the proud that all might know Him. And that is truly good news this morning. Praise God for His mercy and grace and His willingness to oppose us in our sin for our eternal good.

Our hope is not in human rulers, or man-made nations, or our own power/prosperity. It is in Christ alone. And that is a timeless truth that is still incredibly relevant in our day. May we be a people who forsake sin and idolatry to trust in the One, True God.

Let’s pray.

Pray