Isaiah 30:18-33

18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire; 28 his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Target Date: Sunday, 15 September 2024

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

18 - Therefore – lākēn – This is a very common conjunction that tends to look back on the prior statement as a cause of the following result.

18 – wait - châkâh, khaw-kaw’; a prim. root [appar. akin to 2707 through the idea of piercing]; prop. to adhere to; hence, to await:— long, tarry, wait.

1. with לְ to wait for Is 8:17 30:18 64:3 (rd. לִמְחַכָּיו) Hab 2:3 Zeph 3:8 (rd. חַכִּי) Ps 33:20 106:13 Jb 3:21, with עַד until 2K 7:9; —2. abs. to be patient Da 12:12, to tarry 2K 9:3; with בְּ to delay something (sc. words) Jb 32:4 (אֵת towards); חַכֵּי to lie in wait Hos 6:9 (inf. ? Rudolph Hos. 142; rd. מְחַכֶּה כְאִישׁ, Wolff 135).

20 – teacher - môwreh, mo-reh’; from 3384; an archer; also teacher or teaching; also the early rain [see 3138]:— (early) rain.

master teacher (of God) Is 30:20a.b Jb 36:22 Pr 5:13; מוֹרֶה שָֽׁקֶר teacher of lies Hab 2:18, → Segert ArchOr. 22:457f; ? מ׳ with אֵלוֹן and גִּבְעָה → IV. †

Thoughts on the Passage:

18 – Therefore – Too much cannot be made of the statement here. It represents the very heart of the gospel as conceived in the heart of God.

Some commentators see this as the result of the faithlessness of the people of Israel, meaning: since they will flee from trouble rather than trusting in the Lord, He will DELAY in providing them their promised comfort and peace.

I reject this interpretation because

1) This puts God’s great purpose of peace reliant on the deeds of man, even His children. While God will chasten and discipline His children, as will be seen in this very passage, our sin does not delay His grace – it makes it necessary for us.

2) What hope would there be if these people needed to repent and clean up their act sufficiently to come to our Holy God? Where does He tell them something like “If you will stop most of your plans” or “If you will turn back to me perfectly”…I will be there for you? How much good work is enough to satisfy a God who allows NOT ONE sinful URGE to escape His eternal judgment?

Others recognize it as the offer of God’s gracious gospel, but see the “therefore” as “even though”. In spite of your faithlessness, I still patiently wait to bless you for My word’s sake.

While this is better, closer to the truth of the word, it still does not carry the strength of the statement. It makes the Lord seem almost pathetic, whiny – like the comedic character of the “Jewish” mother who proclaims all the things she has done for the kids, but “they never come to see me…”

1) it is good to reject this interpretation because it does rob the statement of God of its power and authority, casting Him as the victim in this rather than the Lord of creation.

2) It places God not simply as the aggrieved party, but as the victim of the faithless actions of men.

3) We must remember that Jesus was not even crucified on the cross by the power or betrayal or the authority of men. Those were mere instruments, wielded in the hand of Almighty God by His design and His purpose. Our Lord was not crucified by men, not overpowered by the crowd. It was no idle boast that He had, at His disposal, ten legions of angels who would gladly rescue Him from the hour of His humiliation. God crushed Jesus; Our Lord died from draining to the dregs the cup of wrath of our Holy God, an act that had been planned from the foundation of the world.

Thus, we are left with the truth of the conjunction: SINCE men could NOT be faithful, whether out of fear or sin or comfort or love of this world, HE would be gracious.

Nothing would be required; nothing expected.

When we are faithless, He is faithful, because He cannot deny Himself.

We bring only our sin ad weakness and helplessness to Him, and He roadies the grace.

Sermon Text:

God is beyond you.

I suppose if there was ever an unsurprising thing for a preacher to say from the pulpit on Sunday morning, it would be that.

“Of course”, we may think, “Of course God is beyond me.”

We sang together this morning that great anthem of the faith, “Holy, Holy, Holy”.

It talks about how our God alone is holy, exalted above all things.

Saints and angels, all creation, are called to give glory to the One God.

But if I asked you – “What is holy?” – what does it mean? – What would you tell me?

Perhaps you would give me the definition – “Set Apart” – distinct.

But we don’t KNOW fully what “holy” is.

We have never MET anyone who IS holy.

Someone who is so good and perfect and sinless that their very presence causes anything tainted with the smallest sin or imperfection to burst into flame.

We don’t GET “holy”.

We don’t have a reference for someone THAT good.

That’s why we measure good intentions, or good actions.

That’s why we count well-intentioned sins to be passable in our judgment.

That is why we will salve an unbeliever’s conscience with platitudes about God’s love – so they won’t have to face how BAD their sin really is,

How offensive it is to a holy God,

How TERRIFYING their situation is when they cling to their sin.

It is why so many people come to church thinking that coming will placate God, that He will bless them for it, or at least that He will be slower to bring difficulty on them.

We REALLY don’t get “holy”.

We tell a person who is living in their natural, sinful state to say a prayer and God will save them eternally.

Or assure them that their baptism has saved them, whether as infants or adults.

We tell ourselves that a whole nation of people can be protected from God’s right judgment if they make their laws a little closer to Israel’s.

Or if they hang the Ten Commandments in the porticos of government.

If they just try harder to govern according to God’s principles.

Really?

Does anyone think it is REALLY possible for us to BE holy in ANY way?

God doesn’t.

God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. - Psalm 53:2-3

And yet, holiness is EXACTLY what He requires:

Six times in the book of Leviticus, the heart of the Law of God, He declares “You shall be holy as I am holy.”

And just so we don’t overlook it, Peter says this:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:14-16

We began looking at the 30th chapter of Isaiah last week, looking in detail at the first 18 verses.

And we saw the actions of a people who were not holy.

They were faithless;

They trusted their own wisdom.

And even after God called them to His peace and His rest, we saw their reaction in verses 15-17:

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, 16 and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. 17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

People will ALWAYS fail, fall short of holiness.

Groups of people will ALWAYS fail, and fall short of holiness.

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23

Christian – YOU have sinned and FALL SHORT of the glory and holiness of God. FULL STOP.

Your sin and mine is foul and stinks – stinks even more than the sin of the world.

When you choose to sin, no matter what the sin is, you KNOW the holy God who has called you to Himself,

Purified you,

Loved you,

Adopted you,

And saved you.

And when you choose to sin, you betray all that goodness.

You think Judas was bad?

30 pieces of silver is much more than what we get for most of our betrayals of Christ.

We will betray Christ for a momentary endorphin rush, or for a few seconds of applause, or a hundred clicks on a web page.

We will deny Him three times just to be accepted by someone we don’t even like.

We cannot be trusted with our own salvation – not any part of it.

All we can bring to a holy God is something that is polluted and ruined.

But then, in verse 18, Isaiah says this:

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Therefore? Therefore what?

He has just been talking about the faithlessness of men – God’s own people.

He has been telling how God would confound their “Plan B’s”, and they would be scattered so that no two of them would be found even on the same mountain.

Therefore?

We might feel better about the “Therefore” if there was some good or noble act on the part of His people prior to this:

That is a REALLY popular thing to teach.

It’s almost like we want Isaiah to have God say, “You obeyed my word and commandments better than you used to, therefore…”

Or even, “You believed in Me and prayed, therefore…”

But none of that is there.

Not even a little of it.

What God is saying here, and it is nothing less than the gospel, the good news, of God:

“You know yourselves as I have always known, you are incapable of doing things right, THEREFORE THE LORD WAITS TO BE GRACIOUS TO YOU.”

He is standing by, grace in His hand, and He will give it EVEN in the aftermath of your faithless rebellion.

Even more, He EXALTS HIMSELF to show mercy to you.

You aren’t going to exalt Him – you can’t.

He is holy, and you are sinful flesh.

He exalts Himself.

That is a DIRECT reference to Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh.

He, in delivering God’s mercy, IS exalted on high – not by the will or power of men, but by God.

We know that because the verse continues:

For the Lord is a God of justice…

There is NOTHING about these conjunctions that makes sense apart from Jesus Christ.

We see the Lord standing by to be gracious,

Exalting Himself in being merciful,

BECAUSE God is a God of justice.

If He destroys sin in His holy wrath, is He then gracious?

If He is merciful to rebels, is He not weakened?

If He allows the sin of some, is He truly just?

In a single passage, Paul answers all these.

[you] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. – Romans 3:24-26

You are justified by grace AS A GIFT – given to those God has chosen.

God put Christ forward, exalting Him at the perfect time, as THE propitiation, the satisfaction of His wrath on sin.

And in doing so, He is both perfectly just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. - Hebrews 7:26

Blessed are those wait for Him: blessed, rewarded, are those whose trust is completely in Him.

Very quickly, I would like to look at the promises of God for His people, the ones He is preparing for His mercy and grace.

1. V. 19 - You shall weep no more.

Now, does that mean that Christians will never be sad?

Or worse, that they are SINNING if they are sad?

I am sure there are some who would take that phrase, lift it out of this passage, and cross-stitch it onto a cloth they hang up on their wall to remind them not to be sad.

Apologies to you if you have this hanging on your wall – I promise I am not preaching AT you.

We know that’s not the case – we know everyone gets sad sometimes.

But look at the great promise of God as we continue to read:

you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore – verses 19-20

Dear child of God, the promise is not simply that you will have no more tears – that is a promise for heaven, not here.

It is that you will never endure those tears alone.

You will never fear that your cry to God has not been heard.

You can know He hears, and He answers your cry, even your most urgent cries of pain and despair.

As soon as He hears it, He answers you.

2. The Lord gives you bitter times from His loving hand for redemptive purposes.

V. 20 - And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction

If you are a follower of Christ, everything – EVERYTHING – that comes into your life:

Every trial,

Every joy,

Every blessing,

Yes, and every sin and sorrow,

Comes to your life under the sovereign control of the hand of Almighty God.

And everything – EVERYTHING – will be used by God for His glory and praise.

You will praise Him even FOR the dark days.

You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. – verses 29-32

This praise isn’t just flowing toward God because we are able to sit back and watch the holy spanking of the Assyrians – no.

In verse 26, we see His own people who have been wounded by His great providence:

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

The promise here is that the glory of the day of healing will immeasurably outshine the day of our pain and brokenness.

In a great passage in his second letter we have to the Corinthians, Paul says this about the difficulties he has had:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

3. The last thing we will look at today: God will be WITH you.

We remember the prophecy of Immanuel, God with us.

And here, we see Him acting:

V. 21 - your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Do you recognize who this is?

The Holy Spirit of God.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. - John 16:13-15

God doesn’t make these promises because He has to.

He doesn’t do it IN SPITE OF being holy, just, righteous, and loving.

He does it because He is holy, and righteous, and just, and loving, and merciful, and gracious, and good – all at the same time.

God has never at any moment ignored sin:

On the contrary, He punishes in His great wrath ALL sin, even the smallest, because there is no small sin.

And if you are in Christ, that wrath has been poured out on Him, and His righteousness, His PERFECT righteousness, has been placed around you.

All to God’s eternal glory and praise.