Isaiah 1:21-31 - Redeemed By Justice

21 How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 22 Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. 23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them. 24 Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. 25 I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. 26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” 27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. 30 For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. 31 And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.

Target Date: Sunday, 3 September 2023

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

21 – faithful (neemanah) – steadfast, believing

We see the Nifal conjugation here (generally middle or passive). As expected, it is the characteristic of the city – faithful, steadfast.

In Isaiah 7:9, we see both the Hiphil and Nifal constructions of the same word:

If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.

Unless he believes (action – Hiphil), he will not be established steadfast (characteristic – Nifal).

Thoughts on the Passage:

Everything in this passage is the result of the “negotiation”, the reasoning together, in v. 18.

This passage represents God’s indictment, God’s declared judgment, and God’s perfect remedy.

The indictments that are made here in this section are based on the Law: murder, theft, bribery (false witness), and a lack of justice. But the cure is not to simply stop doing evil – the cure is to come back to a faithful relationship with God.

The promise of 27-28 is that God’s people are redeemed through repentance, even faith, and that brings righteousness.

The Law, even here, is used only to indict – never to perfect.

The call of God, as to the unfaithful wife, is not to simply stop running around. It is to return to her love and faithfulness to God.

I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. – Revelation 2:2-4

21 – Once, the city was steadfast, faithful to God. Their devotion was dependable.

21 – Righteousness lodged there – BECAUSE they were faithful.

22 – He doesn’t say that their silver contains dross, since that is natural and expected. Their silver, now, IS dross. Dross is what they are calling “silver”. Their faith is so devalued that there is nothing of value left in it. What they consider as good and worthy, God judges as rubbish, a worthless substitute and mockery of His righteousness.

The word “dross” is plural – “drosses”. Multiple impurities, complete worthlessness.

This is not a call to allow God to purify their faith, but to entirely discard their current practice and faith and let God replace it entirely.

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; - Revelation 3:18

22 – Watered wine – Jesus is shown to be the One who could bring good wine from water.

24 - The platitude that ‘God hates the sin but loves the sinner’ needs to be countered by the description of those who have hurt him as my foes … my enemies. Sin sets God at variance with the sinner. But sin also invites divine retribution. The verb avenge (nāqam) makes its only appearance in Isaiah here, but cf. the noun (e.g. 35:4; 47:3; 61:2).

26 – This could, I think, be taken simply as a promise to clean up the bribe-taking judges. If so, the great Persian empire, then the Roman, executed better justice, based on law and legal tradition. Bu, rather, this likely hearkens back to the period of the judges of Israel after Joshua, the time before the kings and the corruption they brought. The kings had led the people away from God – in Israel and Judah; the judges had delivered the people from their oppressors. God appointed each one at the time of the need. Their judgement was not based on family, tribe, or any earthly measure of worth.

26 – This does leave the question whether this promise was fulfilled in the Old Testament times, fulfilled in the advent of the Messiah, or will be eschatologically fulfilled at the Parousia.

27 – The great mistake of many who read this verse is they read it that Zion will redeem themselves by observing and practicing justice. They see the promise, then, as the promise of a redemptive social gospel that simply looks out for our fellow man – a humanist and humanitarian virtue.

But what it says is the GOD will redeem them BY justice. ASTOUNDING! In the prior verses (24-26), God is declaring what HE will do, and all this justice will result in the redemption of Zion. As a result they will be CALLED (declared) the city of righteousness. God will proclaim them the city of righteousness.

27 – God’s righteousness and justice, which the wicked rightly fear, is the MEANS of His redemption of those He has called to Himself.

28 – Rebels and sinners – meaning those who are faithless and those who love wickedness. Those who forsake the Lord will be consumed.

29 – The judgment here will be to set them at the mercy of the idols they worshipped. “Let THEM save you!”

29 - The Israelites had turned to objects of idolatry (“oaks”) and places of idolatry (“gardens,” v. 29), and in doing so had forsaken the Lord. God had chosen Israel, but Israel had chosen a tree! It is impossible to turn from the true God and not turn to an idol.

29 – When man creates an idol, he creates it in his own image. The traits he values, he makes a god for.

For the idolaters in this passage, they valued the strength of the oak and fertility of the garden. God’s judgment is a direct assault and repudiation of those strengths the faithless worshipped.

The oaks, once made into idols, are no longer living – they are dead and dried.

The garden wilts.

The very traits and strengths they seek become only dry tinder that will burn unquenchable.

One of the great horrors of hell is that the desires of the flesh persist unabated, but their satisfaction brings no relief or joy. The thirst is there, but will never be quenched.

Teachings:

As in 7:9, obedience follows saving faith – not the other way around.

Zion was not unfaithful because they were wicked – they were wicked because they were unfaithful to God.

Applications:

How will God be known in a world where His witnesses are so impure?

Sermon Text:

We look this morning at the second part of this opening chapter of Isaiah’s vision.

In this introduction, which extends through chapter 6, we are invited to see the great need of God’s people for repentance and reformation.

If you look back at the verses immediately before today’s passage, you will find God’s invitation to come and “reason” together with Him about the sins of His people.

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. - Isaiah 1:18

What we have in our passage today is that very reasoning, that very legal negotiation He invites them to.

It begins, somewhat surprisingly, with a short lament.

A lament is an expression of sorrow, even mourning.

The first half of verse 21 is a Hebrew lament:

How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice!

It is the expression of sadness on God’s behalf at the unfaithfulness of His people.

We see the same idea in the lament of God over Ephraim in another prophet of this time – Hosea:

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? – Hosea 11:8

This word “how” is not just a question; it is a cry of “Alas!”

It is the heart-rending cry of a parent who, after years and years of training and pleading, has no choice but to allow their erring child to reap the consequences of his wicked choices.

The judgment of God does not bring Him pleasure;

It is the final act of His longsuffering and patience with sin.

It is the final result when all His offers of mercy have been spurned and trampled.

After His plea to His people to repent and turn back to Him in verses 19-20, He begins His indictment of His unfaithful people, remembering their faithfulness in the past.

But – let’s think about that a minute – when was that?

When was Israel faithful to God?

They were barely out of Egypt with Moses before they built a golden calf to worship.

They complained faithlessly about food and water and discomfort in the desert.

They rejected God’s guidance to conquer the Promised Land from Kadesh Barnea, wandering 40 more years in the desert until that faithless generation had passed away.

We see the time God is talking about in verse 26:

I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning.

Israel was never so faithful to God as when they were oppressed.

Indeed, it was in those very times of judgment that God’s people cried out most strongly.

When they were captive in Egypt, slaves of the Egyptians: they cried out to God.

When the serpents struck them in the wilderness, they cried out to God.

When the Mesopotamian king conquered them, they cried out to God (Judges 3:9).

When Moab oppressed them, they cried out to God (Judges 3:15).

When the king of Canaan conquered them, they cried out to God (Judges 4:3).

Do we need to talk about the Midianites, Ammonites, Philistines, and all the other godless nations that God sent to oppress His people?

Do we need to review the times in Israel’s history they were put into great distress and difficulty so they WOULD cry out to God?

So they would stop faithlessly chasing after other gods, worshipping them IN ADDITION to the True God.

That is why God calls Israel a harlot, a prostitute, in verse 21:

They hadn’t stopped calling Him their God, but they were not in an exclusive relationship with Him.

They had made gods in their image, celebrating the things THEY valued, and they bowed down to them as well.

And we see the end result of that in verses 27ff:

Those gods will be proven impotent, and those who worship them will be brought low.

But they liked having God around even while they chased these other gods:

He is big, and He wins His fights.

He is loving and will never forsake us.

He forgives over and over again.

But they kept on going to other gods to please their flesh. God doesn’t please your flesh.

He has declared and continues to declare that the things He has declared in His Law are the best way for you to live.

Covetousness has no benefit to you.

Hatred doesn’t do anyone any good.

Dishonesty and theft rot you from the inside out.

So when Israel looked back to the time of the judges, they saw times of humiliation, trial, and pain.

They saw times of God’s judgment on their parents for their unfaithfulness to God.

They saw times when Israel was inadequate among the nations, humbled by their terrible neighbors.

But the disturbing thing is that God saw these as “the good old days”.

These were the times when His people were single-minded in their cries to Him.

These were the times when they put away idols and longed for His deliverance.

These were the times when they reached the end of their efforts and called out to God for His deliverance.

And these were the times God did mighty works among them, raising up judges, leaders for the day, to deliver His people from their oppressors.

God wasn’t naïve: He knew they would, in time, return to the idols that called to their flesh.

God’s people, then and now, do not handle prosperity and ease well.

Last Wednesday night, in our study of the brilliant speech of Elihu in the book of Job, I said something I will stand by:

No one comes to God unless they have a need.

Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10 “But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, 11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens - Job 35:9-11

Content, happy, healthy people don’t cry out to God; people with a great need that they recognize cry out to Him.

God is more concerned with your GOOD than your COMFORT.

Meaning that God wants what is best for you, and to be in a faithful, loving relationship with Him is ALWAYS the best for you.

Even if that means times of discomfort.

Even if that means sore trials.

Even if that means a diagnosis that terrifies you.

Even if that means there are more bills than money.

Even if that means separation from a situation or a person you have idolized.

Even if that means a “thorn in the flesh” so that you will know for certain His grace is enough for you.

Look how far God’s people had fallen due to their faithlessness:

Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 22 Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. 23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

I mentioned this last week, but it bears repeating:

They are being indicted by their disobedience to God’s Law:

Murder.

Theft.

Rebellion, which implies adultery.

Bribery, which is false witness.

And a lack of justice for the weakest people because they were coveting what they could get.

They are indicted by the Law, but notice the remedy is not to “follow the Law better.”

This is important: They were not unfaithful because they were wicked;

They were wicked because they were unfaithful.

We get this backward all the time; the people of Zion got it backward also.

We think people reject God because they are more enamored with the things of this world. They love the things of this world, and so they make a rational choice to keep those things and keep doing wickedness and evil.

But the truth is that they do these wicked things, live these wicked lives, because they don’t love God.

Wickedness follows faithlessness, not the other way around.

Perhaps you are thinking of 1 John 2:15 that says:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Notice what John says here, though:

If anyone loves the world, the LOVE of the Father is not in him.

If we, or anybody, embrace the things of this world, the LOVE of the Father, the faithful relationship to the Father, is not in him.

If we are in the state of faithlessness, of slavery to this world, everything we do, even those things the world might see as good, are tainted with evil,

They are rotted with selfishness.

They are rusted with pride.

Those who are not following God through Jesus Christ are in the same situation as Israel.

There is literally nothing left to save, nothing good or whole there to salvage.

Their silver is not just LOADED with dross – it IS dross.

There is no silver in it. It is ONLY dross.

And even more strongly, that word is PLURAL:

Your silver is DROSSES. It is a mixture, an alloy, of all that is worthless.

There is nothing of value AT ALL in what you are doing.

There is nothing salvageable.

Their, and OUR, only hope is the grace of God.

And that grace comes THROUGH God’s justice.

It comes through God’s work alone.

Notice what God says He will do:

Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.

He will make good and righteous judgment and justice on those who against Him.

He will bring trouble in order to bring us to repentance in the time of trouble.

25 I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.

He will toss out all those things we called “silver”, all those things we thought were valuable, but were actually garbage.

26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning.

He will bring people to help us follow Him lovingly and faithfully again.

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

And then He will DECLARE us righteous, called out from the darkness and wickedness and faithlessness by His mercy.

Thus shall Zion be redeemed by justice:

That God’s justice, which properly strikes such terror in the hearts of God’s enemies, that same justice is what God will use to redeem His faithful people from their sin.

That is precisely what He has done through Jesus Christ.

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, … so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Romans 3:23-26

Those who have been saved by grace through faith (and that is everyone who has EVER been saved),

They have been redeemed BY God’s justice.

Because your sin was not magically excused – it was paid for by Jesus Christ as He faced the unfiltered wrath of God on your behalf.

He was crushed by God, crucified on a cross but also judged in the eternal wrath of God, so that your sin received what it deserved:

Your sin got justice.

Your sin was fully punished.

Your penalty paid in full.

And, when you, in that same transaction, repented from your sin, you were given righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.