Isaiah 22 - The Valley of Vision
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Isaiah 22:1-4]
1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops? 2 You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle. 3 All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away. 4 Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] Isaiah 22 lands in the midst of judgment oracles against other nations, so what is an oracle against Jerusalem doing in this collection of oracles against other nations?
Jerusalem had been shown what would happen to other nations that rebelled against God, but Jerusalem was blind to its own rebellion and the judgment of God that was coming its way.
So, here in Isaiah 22, Jerusalem is sarcastically taken into “the Valley of Vision” where it will be shown the judgment to come.
Will Jerusalem have eyes to see?
Will we?
[TS] Let’s take a closer look at each of these first four VERSES…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
VERSE 1...
VERSE 1...
1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
[EXP] This is the oracle concerning the valley of vision.
Instead of oracle, other translations have burden, pronouncement, or message.
This is God’s word for his people, the burden He feels for them.
We know this is His word for His people, because the valley of vision refers to Jerusalem.
We know this because Jerusalem is mentioned by name in vv. 9-10.
The Hinnon, Kidron, and Tyropoean valleys all meet at the foot of hill on which Jerusalem stood, but ‘valley of vision’ is a sarcastic moniker for Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is often referred to as Mt. Zion, and from a mountain top there should be great vision of approaching danger, but Jerusalem, its leaders, and its people lacked the vision to see God’s approaching judgment.
Rather than seeing from the mountain top, they were blind in the valley.
“What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?”
Isaiah essentially asks, “What’s with you? Why are you partying when you should be repenting? Do you not see the judgment of God approaching?”
God has used Assyria to judge Israel to the north, and then He used Assyria to give Judah in the south a taste of his judgment, but when Assyria retreated, Judah went up to the housetops and celebrated.
God’s judgment came near to Judah due to its sin, but when His judgment pulled back, Judah didn’t gratefully repent—it partied.
What made this revelry sinful?
It wasn’t what God called for.
He called for repentance, not celebration.
It wasn’t God’s grace that was celebrated.
The banner at their party didn’t say, “Look at what God has done!”
Rather, it said, “We did it!”
And there was no repentance in their celebration.
God called for repentance.
They should have celebrated God rather than themselves.
They should’ve turned to God rather than patting themselves on the back.
Judah’s refusal to repent in this moment… it’s choice to celebrate themselves rather than turn to God lead to its later destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.
[ILLUS] When I was in 9th grade, I decided that I would play football. I had never played football before, and I was about as big as blade of grass, so I figured nothing could go wrong.
I put on the pads and went out to Spring practice.
The quarterback, who wasn’t very big, ran around the end, and I decided to run him down.
When I caught him, he obliterated me.
I limped back to the line and waited for the next play.
This time the running back, who was VERY big, came around the other end, and I decided to try and make a tackle.
I got low and… got obliterated.
The coach got all excited because the running back’s legs got tangled up in my lifeless corpse and fell to the ground.
They called it a tackle, but I called it the end of my football career.
[APP] Proverbs 27:12 says…
12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
I’m not the world’s smartest man, but I am no simpleton.
I could foresee more danger for me in football, and I knew it was best if I retired early.
If only Jerusalem had that same sort of foresight when it came to the danger of God’s judgment.
If only people today had that same sort of foresight!
If only they would exercise prudence, foresee the danger of God’s judgment, and take precaution by turning to Christ.
God gave Judah tastes to judgment, but when Babylon came in 586 BC, it got the full meal.
When we experience the painful consequences of our sinful choices in this life, God is giving us a taste of judgment, but it is just a warning of an even greater judgment to come.
That being so, if we are not yet saved by God’s grace in Jesus Christ, now is not the time for revelry but repentance.
[TS]…
VERSES 2-3...
VERSES 2-3...
2 You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle. 3 All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away.
[EXP] In the first and second halves of v. 2 there is a stark contrast. It’s as if Isaiah walks among Jerusalem’s corpses and surveys the remains.
It’s inhabitants were no longer partying on the roof tops but were slain.
Yet, there were no wounds from arrows or sword; it was siege (and the starvation and disease that came with it) that caused these deaths.
When an ancient city was placed under seige, nothing got into the city and nothing got out.
No fresh water in, no waste water out.
No food in, no excrement out.
No medicine in, no sickness out.
Go read Lamentations to see just how horrific a siege could be.
When the siege by Babylon was too much and Jerusalem was about to fall, Judah’s leaders tried to flee (2 Kgs 25:4-7) but were easily captured.
Having refused to repent, there was no escaping God’s judgment.
[ILLUS] My children and I like to play catch with the football from time to time. They all are learning to throw and catch pretty well, but I have one that like to close her eyes when she tries to catch the ball.
I’ve tried to tell her that closing her eyes is not going to keep the ball from hitting her in the face but will actually help her to get hit in the face more often.
If we are going to avoid danger, the best way is to have our eyes open and see it coming.
[APP] Through Isaiah’s words God was and God is calling His people to open their eyes to the danger of His approaching judgment.
Proverbs 29:18 says…
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
In the ESV it says…
18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
God was providing Judah and is providing us prophetic vision through Isaiah 22 so that we will repent rather than cast off restraint—so that we will turn to Jesus who fulfilled the law for us and died for our law-breaking.
[TS]…
VERSE 4…
VERSE 4…
4 Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
[EXP] Isaiah can’t join the party; he has seen the vision of the destruction that is coming because Judah refuses to repent.
With Assyria pulling back, the party-goers in Jerusalem, stare at Isaiah in bewilderment; perhaps they ask, “What with you? Why are you so down? Why don’t you have a drink to celebrate?”
Isaiah’s response shows the intensity of his anguish, “Turn your eyes from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Destruction is the reality of what’s coming for Jersualem, the precious daughter of his people, and Isaiah seems to be the only one that sees it.
Other can’t see it or won’t see it, choosing instead to distract themselves with revelry.
[ILLUS] I believe it was in Elie Wiesel’s book Night—a book about the holocaust—that the story is told of a man who was in one of the first groups of Jews taken to a Nazi death camp.
Amazing this man managed to escape and came back home to warn others.
But although he had seen the horrors of the concentration camps and intensely warned others what happen if they got on those Nazi trains, no one believed him.
Those who heard him thought, “It can’t be that bad; he must be out of his mind,” and loaded up in train cars to be shipped to their deaths.
[APP] I imagine that is how Isaiah feels in this moment.
He has seen the horror of the judgment to come, but no one seems to believe him.
They just go on with the party.
In talking about the final judgment to come, Jesus said…
38 “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
In other words, when the final judgment comes at the return of Jesus Christ, people will be partying rather than repenting.
That God hasn’t brought this final judgment upon us yet is a kindness that is meant to lead us to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
Let us not squander the opportunity!
Let us not be blind to the judgment that is coming!
Let us turn away from sin and turn back to God through faith in Jesus Christ while there is still time!
[TS]...
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
