Isaiah 15-16
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Isaiah 15:1-9]
1 The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined. 2 They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off. 3 In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their housetops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears. 4 Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him. 5 My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin. 6 For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out, There is no green thing. 7 Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim. 8 For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim. 9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Surely I will bring added woes upon Dimon, A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.
[PRAYER]
In this section of Isaiah, God spoke his judgment against foreign nations.
His word of judgment had come to Israel and Judah. The nations of his people would pay the price for their wickedness, yes, but a righteous remnant would emerge.
God’s word against pagan nations offered no hope of a righteous remnant.
The wicked nations who rebelled against him and refused to come to him for salvation would perish in their wickedness.
As we have seen so far, that has been God’s word against Babylon, Assyria, and Philistia.
Tonight we hear his word against Moab.
The Moabites were descendents of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. The plateau on which they lived was a small strip of farmable land with rugged cliffs to the west that dropped down to the Dead Sea. It had the desert to the east, the Ammonites (other descendents of Lot) to the north, and the Edomites (descendents of Jacob’s brother, Esau) to the south.
Moab was a small, isolated, but proud nation.
It didn’t think God’s judgment would fall on it until it suddenly did so.
[TS] In these chapters tonight we want to notice…
…the description of God’s judgment on Moab…
…the reason for God’s judgment on Moab…
…and the compassion in God’s judgment on Moab.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Part #1: The description of God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 15:1-9).
Part #1: The description of God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 15:1-9).
[EXP] We’ve already read vv. 1-9, and those verses communicate the sudden, extensive, overwhelming, hopeless judgment of God coming on Moab.
We see the suddenness of this judgment with the phrase “surely in a night” in v. 1.
We see the extensiveness of this judgment in the place names listed—these were places all throughout the land of the Moabites.
We the overwhelming nature of this judgment in that even the armed men of the city (in the second part of v. 4) cry aloud and their souls tremble within them.
We see the hopelessness of this judgment in v. 9 in that a lion is even upon the Moabites who are hoping to escape.
This, of course, could be a literal lion or symbolic of a foreign army preying upon those Moabites trying to escape.
[ILLUS] Every now and again I’ll see a movie in which a huge tsunami is going to obliterate the eastern sea board or a huge nuclear explosion is going to wipe some major city off the map.
Those movies usually feature a family who is trying to escape the tsunami or nuclear blast, and we the viewers are asked to consider, “What would you do in this situation?”
Of course, in reality there’s nothing you can do to escape destruction that cataclysmic.
[APP] When the final, cataclysmic judgment of God comes it will be…
…sudden…
3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
…extensive…
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
…overwhelming…
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
…hopeless…
5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
The judgment of God is hopeless for the one who refuses to repent.
But most pridefully refuse to repent by turning to God even when he offers himself to them.
[TS] That brings us to Part #2…
Part #2: The compassion in God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 16:1-5).
Part #2: The compassion in God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 16:1-5).
1 Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2 Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon. 3 “Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive. 4 “Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.” For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land. 5 A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.
[EXP] Moab was known for its flocks, so in v. 1 a refugees from Moab send a tribute lamb to Judah as a request for asylum.
They ask for the protective shadow of Judah to fall over them and hide them.
They cry out in Isaiah 16:4, “Let our refugees stay among you, Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.”
But then in the second half of Isaiah 16:4, Isaiah takes us to a time when the oppression and destruction of Moab have ended, when enemy raiders have disappeared; Isaiah tells of a time when God will establish one of David’s descendents as king.
This king will rule with mercy and truth.
This king will always do what is right; he will always be eager to do what is right.
What’s the message to Moab here?
There is salvation in bowing down to the Davidic king.
[ILLUS] Let’s say that we go boating. We’re riding along when suddenly you’re thrown overboard. You immediately identify three problems with this: (1) You don’t have on a life jacket; (2) You don’t know how to swim; and (3) You can’t breathe underwater.
You begin to call out to me, “Help me, I’m drowning! I don’t know how to swim! Get me out of here before I die!”
I respond by throwing you a pink life ring, but when it hits the water in front of you, you push it away, saying, “I don’t like that color!”
[APP] God is a compassionate God who offers the whole world salvation in his Son, Jesus Christ, the descendant of David, the one who sits on the throne of Israel forever.
In the death of Jesus, God offers forgiveness of sins.
In the resurrection of Jesus, God offers the righteousness we all need before him.
But most push Jesus away because he is not a Messiah who suits their taste.
Like one who would rather drown than be saved by a pink life ring, most people would rather perish than bow down to a Savior who died on a cross.
Their pride will condemn them, just as Moab’s pride condemned it.
[TS] That brings us to Part #3…
Part #3: The reason for God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 16:6-12).
Part #3: The reason for God’s judgment on Moab (Isaiah 16:6-12).
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false. 7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken. 8 For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts; Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea. 9 Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away. 10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I have made the shouting to cease. 11 Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth. 12 So it will come about when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself upon his high place And comes to his sanctuary to pray, That he will not prevail.
[EXP] Moab was prideful; God was bringing his judgment on Moab because of its sinful pride.
How did Moab display it’s pride?
Perhaps they trusted that their physical isolation would protect them from whatever peril came their way.
Perhaps they trusted that their armed men (Isa. 15:4) could deliver them from whatever peril came their way.
Perhaps they trusted that the material abundance (Isa. 15:7) could pay off whatever peril came their way.
But they most definitely trusted that Chemosh would save them from whatever peril came their way.
Chemosh was the false god of the Moabites whose name meant “subdue.”
The Moabites expected him to give land to them (Judges 11:24), and they no doubt expected him to protect them in the land they already possessed.
In Isaiah 15:2 Isaiah said that the people of Moab went up to the temple at Dibon, the location of Chemosh’s temple, and wept.
They were crying out to Chemosh for rescue!
In Isaiah 16, God offered the Moabites salvation by bowing down to the Davidic king, but the pride of the Moabites would not let them bow down.
Despite God’s compassion toward them, Isaiah 16:12 says…
12 The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines, but it will do them no good. They will cry to the gods in their temples, but no one will be able to save them.
Rather than bowing down before the Davidic king, the Moabites turned back to their gods—false gods who could never save them.
[ILLUS] The pink life ring is there before you in the water, but you push it away as you flail trying to stay afloat.
“Give me something else!”
I yell back, “There is nothing else!”
“Well, I’ll learn to swim real fast!”
But I say, “You’ll drown before you do!”
“Well then,” you say, “I learn to breathe underwater!”
But I yell, “That won’t work! You’ll die!”
[APP] Although we have rebelled against Him, God has offered us all salvation through Jesus, the Davidic king who descended from his people.
But even though God compassionately offers us salvation in Jesus who lived, died, and rose for us, many of us push him away and turn back to the old idols of sinful humanity.
“Give me something else!”
But there is nothing else, Jesus is the only way of salvation.
“Well then, I’ll learn to swim!”
But your works will never save you; Jesus is the only way of salvation.
“I’ll learn to breathe underwater!”
No you won’t. You will never survive the wrath of God unless you take hold of Jesus.
He is the Davidic king we must all bow down to.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
Isaiah 16:13-14 give, I think, a verifiable guarantee to what Isaiah has prophesied in Isaiah 15-16.
All that Isaiah prophesied would not take place in the next three years, but within three years the pomp and population of Moab would degrade, a sure indication that the full fulfillment of Moab’s end was at hand.
This is the guarantee of God’s judgment on Moab.
In the same way, the judgment of God on all those who refuse to trust in Jesus Christ is guaranteed.
Don’t wait until its to late.
Bow down before Jesus tonight.
[PRAYER]