Isaiah 31 - Stop Trusting in Man & Return to God

INTRODUCTION

[READING - Isaiah 31]

Isaiah 31 NASB95

1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! 2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity. 3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the Lord will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together. 4 For thus says the Lord to me, “As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against which a band of shepherds is called out, And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise, So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.” 5 Like flying birds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; He will pass over and rescue it. 6 Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. 7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin. 8 And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers. 9 “His rock will pass away because of panic, And his princes will be terrified at the standard,” Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

[PRAYER]

MAIN IDEAS

Part #1: Woe To Those Who Go Down to Egypt for Help (31:1-5)

Isaiah 31:1–5 NASB95

1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! 2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity. 3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the Lord will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together. 4 For thus says the Lord to me, “As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against which a band of shepherds is called out, And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise, So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.” 5 Like flying birds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; He will pass over and rescue it.

[EXP] As Assyria approached, Judah should’ve been looking to God for help. They should have been seeking the Lord. Instead they were looking to Egypt and seeking help from Egypt’s horses, chariots, and horseman.

Egypt looked like a nation that could help because it had many chariots and it’s horseman were very strong.

Practically speaking, Egypt looked like a good alliance for Judah.

But Israel should’ve sought the Lord because He is the Holy One of Israel, and He is YHWH.

The title “Holy One of Israel” is a a title used in the OT, most especially here in Isaiah, to describe the perfect righteousness of God’s nature and the unique relationship He had with His people.

God is holy, holy, holy, and He was their God, and they were His people.

Shouldn’t they have relied on Him, trusted in Him, looked to Him, sought after Him when they needed help?

Of course they should have.

The title “LORD” reflects the personal name for God. It was the name first given to Moses when Moses was called to lead God’s people our of Egypt.

It was YHWH who would rescue His people from Egyptian oppression by the strength of His might.

It was incredibly offensive to God that Judah refused to look to Him for rescue as the Assyrians approached because He had revealed Himself to them, rescued them, and made a covenant with them.

Again, He was their God and they were His people, but they wouldn’t seek Him.

But the Lord is wise (v. 2), and in His wisdom He knows how to bring down the house of evildoers (i.e., Judah, the workers of iniquity) and Judah’s help, which was Egypt.

Not only does God have the wisdom, He also has the power. In fact, it will be easy for Him because the Egyptians are flesh and not spirit as God is.

So, the Lord will stretch out His hand and cause Egypt to stumble and Judah to fall.

The helpers will be made to hurt, and the helped will be made to hurt even more.

And all of this is guaranteed by the Lord of hosts who is like a powerful lion.

The title “Lord of hosts” refers to God as the Captain of the armies of Heaven.

This is who Judah refused to look to for help.

This is who will now come against Judah.

He is like a lion or a young lion (i.e., a lion in the prime of its strength) growling over his prey, which is Judah.

When such a lion attacked flocks of sheep, shepherds would be called out to run the lion off, but no one will run God off.

He will come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill; He will seize His rebellious people in His mouth.

But He will is also like a hovering bird protecting Jerusalem, delivering it, and passing over it to rescue it (v. 5).

Even as He declares His wrath on His people, it is mixed with notes of mercy and deliverance.

[ILLUS]

[APP] Sometimes to trust in someone or something other than God seems very resonable. That’s how it must have seemed to Judah as contemplated turning to Egypt for help against the Assyrians.

Egypt had good horses.

Egypt had lots of chariots.

Egypt had many horseman.

But there is never a good reason for trusting in someone or something else when we should be trusting in God alone.

Whenever we trust in something or someone other than God, we can be assured that whatever we trusted in will prove unreliable and that we will suffer for relying on something or someone other than the Lord.

But because we are His people through the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, He will not let us be fully ruined.

In His mercy, He will only let us suffer some of the consequences of our distrust while protecting us from the worst consequences.

But what should be our aim? Our aim to be trust in God alone for the rescue that only He can provide.

Our aim should be to never go to an Egypt for help no matter how much it seems to make sense.

Their is no wisdom is trusting someone or something other than God.

[TS]…

Part #2: Return to Him from Whom You Have Deeply Defected (31:6-9)

Isaiah 31:6–9 NASB95

6 Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. 7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin. 8 And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers. 9 “His rock will pass away because of panic, And his princes will be terrified at the standard,” Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

[EXP] The people of Judah has deeply defected. Although God rescued them, provided for them, and established them as His people, they have turned on God by turning to Egypt for rescue.

In Isaiah 1:2, God describes this deep defection by saying, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.”

This defection is deep because it is personal.

But God is passionate in His call for His people to repent and return to Him. We hear His passion in v. 6, but we will also hear it in…

Isaiah 44:22 NASB95

22 “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Isaiah 55:7 NASB95

7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

God is passionate about the repentance of His people.

He looks forward to the day when His people will cast away their idols of silver and gold (v. 7).

He promises a day when Assyria will fall by His sword rather than the sword of man (v. 8).

He looks forward to the rock of the Assyrians passing away as faith in that false god falters as Assyria falls (v. 9a).

The banner of God will be raised, and the Assyrians will be terrified.

Judah can trust this to be true because the holy fire of God’s glory is in Zion and the furnace of His wrath is in Jerusalem (v. 9b).

If Judah will trust Him, He will deliver them.

[ILLUS]

[APP] The Lord is just as passionate about our repentance as He was Judah’s. Every time we sin, we are attempting to find our rescue in something other than the Lord. Thus, every time we sin, we are committing idolatry.

Some idols of sin are pretty commonplace to us but some idols of sin are idols of silver and gold (i.e., they are precious to us).

Even so, the Lord promises that if we throw them out, He will provide the rescue we’ve been looking for.

Perhaps we’ve been looking for rescue from loneliness or stress, and we’ve been looking to some idol of sin to to find that rescue.

The Lord tells us the truth. That idol will never deliver what it promises.

But if we return to the Lord and trust Him, then He will provide what we need.

He will slay that enemies that tempt us to turn to idols of sin.

And then we will know anew that our Rock is not like the unholy rock of idolators.

Our Rock delivers.

Our Rock satsifies.

[TS]…

CONCLUSION

[PRAYER]