Faithful to Judge, Faithful to Deliver • 07.14.24
Faithful to Judge, Faithful to Deliver
Isaiah 29
Paying attention to the ways in which God works
- God addresses the sinfulness of man
- God provides deliverance in a mighty way
- God intensifies the consequences of man’s foolish decisions
- God chooses to work wonders and confound the worldly
- God reveals the folly of sinful men
- God plans to redeem his people and remove the wicked
Good morning, church family! What a sweet and exhausting week of ministry through our High Five Camp. As you saw in the video earlier, both adults and kids had a ton of fun AND, even more importantly, we got to share the hope of Jesus with them! I was reflecting on my drive home on Friday night just how blessed our church is to have so many wonderful and willing servants. I am so thankful for everyone that made this outreach effort possible, from Emily and her leadership team, the Reddins who taught all week, the worship team who led us in God-exalting singing, all the way to those who served behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. We also had our largest group of Harvest Students serving at High Five this year, which I think shows the servant hearts of the next generation. I know of at least one child who made a profession of faith in Jesus! A lot of gospel seeds were planted and watered, as well.
Can we give the Lord some praise and show these volunteers our appreciation this morning!?
Today is High Five Celebration Sunday, which means between the services we have some special activities and snacks on the lawn. Please use this as time to build relationships with one another or just catch up after a long week of serving together. But at this point in our service, we’re here to study God’s Word.
Ushers + Bibles (Isaiah 29; page 699)
For those who are visiting with us, welcome! My name is Pastor Nick and I have the privilege of opening the Word of God with you this morning. Our church is in a study of the book of Isaiah, which just happens to be one of the longest books of the Bible! We’ve been working through chapters 1-39 this year, and we will cover 40-66 next year. You’re joining us as we enter into chapter 29 in a sermon I’ve titled Faithful to Judge, Faithful to Deliver.
The context of this passage is that the Judeans have sought to be self-reliant and trust in their own plans/ways to save them. Namely they are turning to an alliance with Egypt to protect them from the invading nation of Assyria. Now, that might sound like a wise plan to you; if you’re weaker than your enemy, then why wouldn’t you find an ally who can help you survive, right?!
Here’s the problem with their plan. The Creator God of the Universe was already on their side! They already have the strongest ally possible! And God has repeatedly told them, “You are my people, and I am your God. Turn to me for salvation! I will provide for and protect you!”
Do you think the nation of Judah listened to God? NOOO. They think they know better than God! Their refusal to trust Him invites God’s judgment upon them. This has been a consistent pattern. Thankfully, we have also seen another consistent theme alongside God’s faithful judgment. We also see that he reveals himself as a gracious redeemer! He is able, even after judging his people, to rescue and redeem them. And that is exactly what he is going to tell them through his prophet Isaiah in what we read today. So, let’s read our text. We’re going to do a full chapter at once again!
Isaiah 29:1–24 (ESV)
Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
3 And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
What comes to your mind after reading a chapter like that? Perhaps you’re thinking “Who or what is Ariel?” I can assure you, it’s not the Disney princess. Maybe you feel like you have a bit of whiplash because in one moment God’s people are being disciplined, while the next those who attack them are being disciplined. There are multiple times in this chapter where the Lord reveals he is faithful to judge, yet also faithful to deliver. Perhaps you feel like the words of God through Isaiah are hard to understand. Maybe you have all those responses at once! Do not worry, my aim is to help us answer these questions and to show you how this teaching is both understandable and for our benefit. As I was reading this passage earlier in the week, I could not help but think of this verse from the New Testament.
Romans 15:4 (ESV)
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
What a helpful reminder! All of God’s Word was written for our instruction, so that we might endure in the faith and find our hope in the encouragement of the Scriptures. So, let’s dig into the Word of God today and see what he is going to teach us. As we do this, I want to encourage you to be…
Paying attention to the ways in which God works
We’re going to walk through the passage section by section, starting with verses 1-4, where…
- God addresses the sinfulness of man
This is our first observation about the ways in which God works. God addresses the sinfulness of man. You hear it in the rebuke of Ariel – which in the Hebrew is best translated as an “altar hearth” – the place of the ever-burning fire used in burnt offerings to worship God. God is using this name or term to speak of the city where David encamped, telling us this is the city of Jerusalem. It was the capital of the nation of Judah and representative of the entire nation. They had the privilege of being the home of the temple of God and place where his presence dwelt. This was both an incredible honor and an incredible danger to them! It was an honor when they were walking in obedience to the Lord and enjoying the blessings of his presence. It was an incredible danger when they were disobeying the Lord and inviting his judgment (which is how they are currently living!)
If you were here last week, you heard the warning in Isaiah 28:21 that God was about to do a strange work of judging his people. That’s exactly what we hear being promised in 29:1-4. Consider what was said in these verses:
- Verse 1 – the city where David encamped!
- Verse 3 – The city against which God will encamp!
- Verse 1 – “add year to year; let the feasts run their round”
- Meaning – keep up your partying and foolish celebrations
- Verse 2 – Here is what is coming your way! God will distress/oppress them!
- Their partying will turn to moaning and lamentation in their distress!
The result of the judgment of God is that they will become like an altar hearth where the fire is burning constantly. This is a picture of judgment. God speaks very plainly about the process by which he will bring them low. In fact, we know from the course of history and the testimony of Scripture that God does bring the nation of Assyria to the very walls of Jerusalem! He uses a pagan king and nation to accomplish his plans.
2 Kings 18:13–17 | Isaiah 36 (ESV)
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.”
And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
God does not speak idly when promising judgment. As we learned this week in High Five, he does not lie! As we consider this lesson from Judah’s history, we must understand that God does not ignore sin. He will address the sinfulness of man, just like he is doing here!
And notice the result in verse 4. God tells them that they will be brought low. “From the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down.” That is the imagery of being completely humbled either by being conquered (Lay down like someone is standing on my back) or, even worse, like you are dead. “Your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.” Sin and rebellion against God never ends well! Their once proud and defiant shouting/partying has now brought them down to the grave.
This ought to shake us out of our own complacency with sin this morning. If God is willing to do this for his chosen nation, he is willing to do it for anyone! It is a lie of the devil to think that our sin (disobedience to God) is no big deal or that God won’t do anything about it. God always addresses the sinfulness of man. Now, thankfully, that is not the final word in our text today.
Look back with me at verses 5-8. What do you observe here? In a rather surprising turn of events, God shows up and…
- God provides deliverance in a mighty way
“In an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise…” And on it goes describing the incredible power and might of God on display as he suddenly works deliverance. Even though there was a multitude of foreign foes against them, a veritable horde of the enemy army encamped around them, this was nothing in comparison to the bared power and majesty of God. The Assyrian army would be like small dust or passing chaff blowing away in the wind.
The way this is described made me think of the effect of Thanos’ finger snap in the Avengers: Infinity War movie. The shock of watching your favorite superheroes turn to dust in an instant was palpable in the theater. I can only imagine how much greater the shock was when God delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrian army encamped around them! God was foretelling exactly what he would do to provide deliverance for his people.
Of course, the Assyrians could hardly believe it. Victory was in their sight! They had the city surrounded and believed God was on their side in this battle. As we will hear in later chapters of Isaiah, they were not afraid of Yahweh or the Judeans at all. Their pride will result in their judgment, just as God predicted it here in this chapter.
This is exactly what happened in history. We are told about it in 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37.
2 Kings 19:32–37 | Isaiah 37:33-38 (ESV)
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
How awesome is it that God foretells of what is coming, long before it happens!? He does this so that his people might hear and learn to trust and follow him. And then when it comes to pass, they can know that he alone is God and worthy of our worship!
So, going back to Isaiah 29, even as Judah is being rebuked, God promises to work deliverance in a mighty way. This does not mean they will get to avoid the consequences of their sin. Much of the land of Judah was still conquered by Assyria and many people died. Jerusalem would be placed under siege and the cost was great!
However, in the end, God reveals that he is greater than the enemy nations. His deliverance is so awesome and quick that the hordes of enemies will seem like a dream that fast departed and is forgotten. No one who stands against the Lord or his people will win in the end!
This is an important truth for those who believe in and follow God today. If God can deliver his chosen people back then, he is able to do so with his chosen people today and in the future! Even though it may seem like the world is against you or that evil is winning the day, there is always hope in the Lord. Take these lessons to heart this morning!
Unfortunately for Judah, they were not quick to heed these lessons and there are more words of judgment following verse 8. In verses 9-13, we learn the important truth that…
- God intensifies the consequences of man’s foolish decisions
Verse 9 begins with the actions that the Judeans took and how it affected them. They “astonished themselves” or “delayed/stopped themselves” which resulted in them being astonished/delayed in understanding. They willingly “blinded themselves” and thus could not see. These are statements of spiritual dullness or their unwillingness to understand what God was doing. The point is that the people had done it to themselves! They could care less what God wanted from them, they just wanted to live it up and enjoy the pleasures/treasures of this life while they were alive. Sound familiar at all to our day and age? Absolutely it does! There is nothing new under the sun with the ways of man or the temptations of sin.
Last week we heard that some of their leaders were literally drunkards. Today, in chapter 29, it is talking about a spiritual stupor. They stagger around in a spiritual haze, not able to understand or comprehend what is happening to them! This is what happens when you choose to live in sin and refuse to listen to God’s revealed Word.
Then, in verse 10, we hear that God intensifies their condition by closing their eyes and covering their heads from understanding. You can see in your Bible the clarification in parentheses that it is speaking of their prophets and seers, those who were supposed to receive direct revelation from God for the people’s instruction are no longer able to do so. God is judging them by giving them what they asked for – spiritual blindness/deafness/dumbness. They are operating in spiritual stupor due to their own choices which God has now intensified.
This is further elaborated on in verses 11-13, as we see a people who are unwilling to exert any effort to understand God’s will and ways. They are content to be spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb. And God sees right through it! As we’ve heard repeatedly, he knows the heart. He is not fooled by anyone’s vain religiosity. Going through the motions of faith by saying the right religious things or attending church occasionally while your heart is far from him is not authentic faith or worship! And Jesus gave this exact same rebuke to the Pharisees of his day.
You see, this irreverence towards God was not limited to Isaiah’s day. This is the exact same pattern that man continues to live by in the New Testament era! And God continues to give them over to their willful rebellion. Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome in the 1st century.
Romans 1:18–23 (ESV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Just like their predecessors in the days of Isaiah, men and women are unwilling to seek understanding. This is a very dangerous game to play with God, as the end result can be a hardened heart that is unable to repent and receive salvation.
Let this be a warning to each of us here today! Sin is not worth it. Neither is religiosity (going through the motions of faith). When we choose to live in a way that is contrary to God’s will and ways, it hardens our heart towards the truth. The ultimate end of this path is a heart unwilling and unable to repent and be saved. It simply is not worth it for temporary pleasures and treasures!
Thankfully, yet again, God surprises us with his promises to deliver, even in the midst of judgment. Out of the hard words of verses 9-13 comes the promise of verse 14. “Behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” Here is our fourth observation about the ways in which God works:
- God chooses to work wonders and confound the worldly
This verse is an important one in the chapter. It reveals that God works as HE determines. Even though men and women are wickedly pursuing their own ways, he determines to set his grace at work. Nothing in this promise is earned or deserved. His choice to work wonders in their midst is an act of mercy and grace. And, as he works, he reveals the utter folly of the wise and discerning men of their age.
If you are a student of the Scriptures, you know that this is a repeated pattern of God through the ages. He works wonders by showing his grace even though the people who are blessed by them are undeserving. That is true from the beginning of humanity until this very day. We even learned about it during High Five Camp – every good gift is from God. And we have not done anything to earn or deserve it! This is most wonderfully seen in the gift of salvation for each one of us who has come to know Jesus Christ as our savior.
This observation about God’s ways is tied into our next observation from verses 15-16.
- God reveals the folly of sinful men
Throughout the ages, from Isaiah’s day to today, men and women have claimed to be wise and discerning. They have created sinful plans in the deep darkness of the inner rooms and tried to hide them from their Creator. They are trying to control and manipulate the world, as if they were God. They even go so far as to pretend they are in God’s position.
Like we hear in verse 16, they pretend they are the potter and God is the clay. So many proud humans act like they are the authority, and they get to call the shots, rather than God. Though created, they deny their Creator. Though formed, they claim understanding while denying that God knows anything! What arrogance! What folly!
This pattern is throughout the Scriptures! As we heard earlier, Paul brings it up in his day to the Romans. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to man’s rebellion. The Bible timelessly speaks to the patterns of our folly and reveals them to be bankrupt.
Men and women throughout history have claimed that they understand the ways of our world and the signs of the time. Some are so bold as to make specific prophetic claims, which inevitably turn out to be wrong revealing the falsehood of those who made them… We have seen it come and go in the rise and fall of cults and false religions.
We have our own set of these so-called “wise and discerning” men and women in our own day, each crying out their message of false salvation to whomever will hear. It takes the form of scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, environmentalism, scientism, humanism, progressive Christianity and so on… Each proclaiming a certain set of truth claims and a particular way of life that leads to their version of salvation. And, in the end, all of them will be revealed as foolish lies in comparison to the One, True God who works wonders and confounds the worldly. It happened in Isaiah’s day, it happened in the day of Jesus Christ, and it will happen again at Christ’s return. *pause*
Look, I know this has not been a light and fluffy sermon or sermon series. The pastor team knew that when we chose to study Isaiah. But we believe it is timely and the truths of God’s Word are timeless. We live in a day and age that is reeling from the folly of men and women having their way rather than submitting to God’s way. And we do not want to see our church, our community, or our country continue down this path of rebellion. There is a better way! God’s way! And as we see and hear in verses 17-24…
- God plans to redeem his people and remove the wicked
These plans of God have not been hidden from us. They are put on display throughout the Scriptures. We have heard many “in that day” promises over the course of our study in Isaiah. A future day is coming when God will redeem his people and remove the wicked.
In this text, God reveals his power to reverse the plans of man. Though mankind is proud of its ability to tame the wilderness of Lebanon (full of its tall cedars), God will reverse their efforts and make it again a wild forest. The greatest efforts of man are nothing in comparison to the power of God.
In that day, God will reverse the effects of sin upon his people so that they can hear and see the truth. No longer will they be spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb.
We even see in verse 19 this wonderful truth that the meek will obtain fresh joy in the Lord and the poor shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. This is a reminder that those who are lowly in the eyes of the world are not so in the eyes of the Lord. This is very much what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, preached when he came and walked the earth. Listen to the beginning of his famous sermon on the mount:
Matthew 5:2–12 (ESV)
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
God has always planned to redeem his people through faith in the Messiah, his son, Jesus Christ. As we’ve just heard, God’s people are characterized by a godly, humble character that is not self-seeking but seeks the good of others and the glory of God. Those who are God’s people are to be known for pursuing peace and enduring persecution for their faith. This is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. None of us is inherently humble or seeking after the glory of God; we need God to do a mighty work of salvation within us. To save us from our pride and self-seeking lifestyle that we all have.
This salvation is a work of his grace in us, and we ought to desire this with all our being! What a precious treasure to know that you are a forgiven and redeemed child of God. This salvation is possible through confessing your sin and professing your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the one who lived a perfect, sinless life in our place, died a substitutionary death for us on the cross, and endured the full wrath of God for our sins so that we might be forgiven and at peace with God. There is no other way of salvation. How will you respond to this Good News of Jesus Christ?
The alternative is to remain dead in your sin and to endure the promise of God that was revealed in Isaiah 29:20-21 – that he will remove the wicked. “The ruthless shall come to nothing, and the scoffer shall cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off…”
God will not stand idly by while the wicked prosper or use their words to confuse justice and ensnare the righteous. Though he may choose to delay his judgment, he will act. Do not confuse his patience with indifference to sin.
Unfortunately, there are many, both in Isaiah’s day, and in ours today that are unwilling to consider the outcome of their sinful choices. And the result will be God’s fulfillment of his promise to judge. As the Righteous King of the Universe, he will hold the guilty accountable and they will suffer his righteous discipline forever. That is not an outcome that I would wish upon any man or woman. So please hear the call to repent and believe in Jesus today!
And praise the Lord that Isaiah 29 ends on a positive note. In verses 22-24 God reveals his plan to give Jacob an inheritance of righteousness through many children who believe. Jacob was the father of the nation of Israel, it was through him that the twelve tribes came to be. God is promising that there will be many Israelites who are in heaven, who believe in the Lord! This is a sweet promise for Isaiah to be able to share with his people. You have to imagine it was a blessing to his own soul after having so many hard things to share with them!
The inevitable outcome of God’s plan is that there are many who declare God to be holy and stand in awe of him. This group will be comprised of people from Israel, but also from every tongue, tribe, and nation as the rest of the Scriptures reveal to us. This is the hope of Judah/Israel, but also the church!
The final promise, as the chapter closes, is that as people encounter the redemptive grace of God, they are transformed by it. Those who formerly went astray will gain understanding and those who were complainers will accept instruction. This is the beauty of God’s grand redemptive plan – straying sinners are redeemed into secure saints. And for that we have much to rejoice in this morning!
Let’s close in a word of prayer and then rejoice in the God who has saved our souls!
Pray
Saved My Soul