Isaiah 14:1-23 - When May Christians Taunt?

1 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. 2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 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. 8 The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’ 9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. 10 All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. 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?’ 18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot. 20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. “May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named! 21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.” 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.

Target Date: Sunday, 5 May 2024

Thoughts on the Passage:

How can believers who are fervent in their compassion and love also rejoice in the fall of this great land and its king?

Because their greatest love is for the most beautiful Lord of glory. His Law is beautiful because it is the expression of what it means to be like Him.

Believers love the Law of God, not because it brings wrath to His enemies, but because in the reflection of the holiness of God, it convicts people of their sin and brings them to His grace and salvation.

In the end, the believer wants NOTHING more than to see God honored and glorified.

When we do not, it is the sinful nature that remains in us that prevents us.

It is the love of this world and the things of this world that compromises us.

But we can also err the other way: loving the Law BECAUSE it means the judgment of the wicked.

How can we, who proceed from the same wicked nature and were saved solely by the grace and mercy of God, be pleased to see the judgment of the wicked?

The taunt sung by the people of God, notice, does not occur until AFTER His justice is rendered, not before.

He is in Sheol; he is in the grave.

The city is fallen; their schemes against God and His people has been crushed.

We must be very careful to hold our celebrations until the battle is truly over, until God has completed His work of judgment.

Then Babylon may become a byword, as Jerusalem was before them, and as Sodom and Gomorrah were before them, and as Babel was prior to that.

Until the judgment of God is FINISHED, our job is to rescue HIS people from the line of fire:

Preaching the good news.

Praying for their souls.

And becoming witnesses, even martyrs, to the glory of God alone.

And His people, by the work of His Holy Spirit, will respond in faith to His call.

The wicked are NOT our enemies; they are our objectives, our mission. Among them are those God has sent us to rescue.

Even when they lash out in ignorance or fear or pride against us, the faithful believer offers no hatred or smugness or venom.

He responds with the gospel, which is the only message that can save those who despise us.

And the Spirit will make the gospel effective and active in the life of the one God has chosen from before the foundation of the world.

Only after all His people, His sheep, are safely in can we celebrate the victory of His holy glory.

4 – Instead of hearing the lament of “How the mighty have fallen”, he hears “How the oppressor has ceased.”

10 – Only now, here in hell, does this king realize how wicked he was, how weak he was, and how holy God is.

Though he cry out at God “Why did You not break me?” he knows in his heart that God truly owed him NOTHING.

Ultimately, the battle is between Creator and creatures, and the issue is whether we will accord him the right due him as Creator and bow to him in glad service or will continue to insist that we are as he is and continue to have our arrogance mocked by the worm.

12 - Some of the church fathers, linking this passage to Luke 10:18 and Rev. 12:8, 9, took it to refer to the fall of Satan described in those places. However, the great expositors of the Reformation were unanimous in arguing that the context here does not support such an interpretation. This passage is discussing human pride, which, while monumental to be sure, is still human and not angelic.

God owes no man ANYTHING. Every good thing is a gracious gift.

Teachings:

We are not more compassionate than God; neither are we as holy or just as Him.

This is not a blanket approval for taunting of the wicked.

Sermon Text:

This morning we come to the second part of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Babylon.

I remind you that these prophecies are not spoken necessarily for the ears of Babylon, certainly not at this time for the king of Babylon. He likely never heard them.

These prophecies were given by the Holy Spirit through Isaiah to reassure the people of God that even in His anger toward their sin, they would not be cut off forever.

Babylon was a real threat for them, but God was entirely in control even when it looked like Babylon was.

Throughout the centuries, God’s people have been sorely pressed and oppressed by evil men and nations; God has always been in sovereign control.

And so in the first verse of this 14th chapter, we see the assurance:

For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel

God has not abandoned you; God will deliver you again from the hand of the oppressor.

The promises God has made MUST come to pass;

The Messiah must come, and He will come from Abraham and Israel’s line.

And so it is with all God’s people: you are never out of His care.

He does not leave you; He will never abandon you.

And because of this continuing care, He tells them in verse 4 that they will “take up this taunt [this proverb, this saying] against the king of Babylon.”

And then the rest of our text today is 3-4 different taunts [sayings] from 3-4 different opponents of Babylon, specifically opponents of the king of Babylon.

The first is the saying of the people of God, found in verses 4-8.

This includes the saying of the “cedars of Lebanon” (probably indicating the other nations around Israel) in v. 8.

The second group are the dead in Sheol, hell, in verses 9-11.

And the third opponent, and the last word in the matter, is the Lord God Himself, in verses 12-23.

Today, I would like to look at the taunt of the faithful in verses 4-8.

And so I have given this sermon a title: When may Christians Taunt?

And I would like to look at three things in that:

The content of the taunt.

The timing of the taunt.

The purpose of the taunt.

First, we must understand that the word “taunt” has a lot of things it brings to our minds that are not really intended here:

The word does not imply sarcastic or mocking. It is more often translated “proverb” or “discourse”.

It generally indicates a short saying, easily remembered, that speaks the truth.

When it is translated “taunt”, it is because the short saying uses someone else as an example to avoid, a byword.

The first thing we will look at is the content of the taunt.

We see immediately two things about it:

A true diagnosis of the fall of the king of Babylon.

And the focus on the work of the Lord God.

How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked

This has everything to do with what God has done in His sovereignty for His own glory.

There is no celebration dance over the fall of the king of Babylon;

There is a song of praise for the triumph of the Lord God Almighty.

V. 7 – they break forth in singing.

We see a lot of people taunting others today.

When someone disagrees with us, we call them names or dismiss them with sarcasm.

We have a LOT of tools to do that, and we sharpen our skills in taunting over social media, podcasts, and YouTube (among others).

We like to watch the fights; we feel a little tingle of thrill when we see a controversy.

Like schoolchildren circling around a fight, we shake our fists and root for our favorite, all the while chanting in our hearts “Fight! Fight!”

Even preachers and teachers who have been called to carry the gospel and equip the saints fall into this sinful taunting of others who don’t agree with their theological position, neglecting completely the command of our Lord to be unified and not be divisive.

Jesus was quite clear when He said “Blessed are the peacemakers”

And tragically, we see Christians celebrating when those who would oppose us are disgraced or die in their sin.

When did the church of Jesus Christ, those who owe EVERYTHING to the grace and mercy of God, become cheerleaders for the wages of sin?

How did we, who are cleansed only by the blood of Jesus Christ, become so bloodthirsty for “justice” to be done to other people?

I will give you an example: in 2020, one of the justices of the US Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, so far as we know, in her sin and outside of Christ.

And many politically-right Christians celebrated because it gave the Republicans one more conservative vote on the Supreme Court.

And many politically-left Christians mourned because it removed a Democratic vote from the Supreme Court.

It was much less common to find ANYONE who had a concern for her or for those in her family and friends who would also die one day, and often without Jesus.

When did the CHURCH of Jesus Christ become more concerned with politics than the gospel? They are NOT the same thing; They are NEVER the same thing.

Change the laws to better laws – that is fine, since we have been granted that right by God at this time.

But we are here for the gospel – you and me.

Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44ff)

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:19-21

Brothers and sisters, we have to guard all our communication, and that is really hard.

In a world that has taught us to love conflict, peacemakers seem weak or worse, cowardly.

But our words to each other must lift each other up, even if we are correcting each other.

Speaking the truth always in love.

whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. – Philippians 4:8

And our words to unbelievers must be truthful and loving toward them as well, always with the goal of bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ AS IF it depended on us.

We talked about that last Wednesday:

I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. - 1 Corinthians 9:22-23

The second thing we will look at is the timing of the taunt: when did it happen?

In short, the saying occurred AFTER the king was dead and buried.

We see him welcomed into Sheol, into hell, by the ghosts of those who have gone before him.

Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.

It sounds like a triumphant parade, doesn’t it? All the former kings of the nations, the company of the great leaders of the world stirred up.

It seems like quite an honor – until they speak:

‘You too have become as weak as we!’

They didn’t rise to greet him, to welcome him.

They rose to MOCK him.

We thought we were powerful – and here we are, weak and without even the dignity of a body.

And you thought you were the greatest king ever, and you are the same as us.

Don’t get lost in the poetic way these “shades” are described; the point is that they have been brought lower than the earth.

Meanwhile, the faithful people of God, who have received His mercy, sing His praises in the land of the living.

And when they raised their song, their proverb, about the great king who is now buried and in Sheol, his final state is completely determined.

We must never make the sinful mistake to think that the wicked person will always be a wicked person.

To see them as our enemy and raise a taunt while they remain here in the land of the living, recipients of God’s common grace.

Because here, in this life, as long as breath remains in our bodies, there is opportunity for repentance.

A crucified thief can be saved while hanging between heaven and earth.

A persecutor of the church can be saved on the way to arrest Christians.

A disciple can be led back to the congregation when he is looking for his next life adventure on the way to Emmaus.

A proconsul of Rome can be the first convert of a new apostle.

Finally, the purpose of the taunt.

It is not to mock the dead, nor to educate him; he already now has no doubt of the holiness and justice of God.

He knows better than the living the terrible eternal reality that awaits those who do not follow Jesus Christ in faith.

He, like the rich man in Luke 16, is now a great advocate of evangelism:

Begging “Please send Lazarus to my brothers to warn them of this place.”

That is the very purpose of the “taunt”, the proverb, the teaching – to warn all who hear that God’s wrath is terrible, but His mercy and grace are available to all who believe.

No one has an excuse for unbelief.

And God owes mercy to no one.

But He offers it, free of charge, as a gift, paid entirely by the sacrifice of His only full Son.