Isaiah 32 - Behold, a King Will Reign

Introduction

[READING - Isaiah 32:1-8]

Isaiah 32:1–8 NASB95

1 Behold, a king will reign righteously And princes will rule justly. 2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land. 3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 The mind of the hasty will discern the truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly. 5 No longer will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of as generous. 6 For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty. 7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises wicked schemes To destroy the afflicted with slander, Even though the needy one speaks what is right. 8 But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.

[PRAYER]

[ILLUS] Vernon Charlesworth (c. 1888) wrote an old hymn based on the opening words Isaiah 32. The hymn is titled, A Shelter in the Time of Storm, and in a minor key, sailor’s use to sing it as they approached safe harbor in a storm.

The Lord's our rock, in Him we hide, A shelter in the time of storm; Secure whatever ill betide, A shelter in the time of storm.

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A Shelter in the time of storm.

A shade by day, defense by night, A shelter in the time of storm; No fears alarm, no fears affright, A shelter in the time of storm.

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A Shelter in the time of storm.

[CONTEXT] In Isaiah 32, Judah is looking for a shelter as the Assyrian storm approaches, and who does God promise to His people as a future shelter but Jesus, the King who will reign righteously.

Isaiah 32:1-8 pertains to the future reign of King Jesus when He comes again.

As Hebrews 9:28 says…

Hebrews 9:28 ESV

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

That is what the beginning of Isaiah 32 is about.

[CIT] In these first eight verses, God says that the righteous reign of the Messiah will change everything.

[INTER] Aren’t you ready for Jesus to come and change everything?

[ILLUS] Some people aren’t. Some people are like those babies waddling around with dirty diapers in desperate need of a change.

We all can see they need to be changed, but some of those children are so comfortable in their dirty diapers that they refused to be changed.

Many people are comfortable with the broken, backwardness of this world.

They are comfortable when right is called wrong and wrong is called right.

They are comfortable in the confusion over gender and marriage.

They are comfortable with corruption and crime and greed.

They are comfortable with godlessness.

But as God’s people, we cannot be comfortable with these things.

Rather, these things make us long all the more for the changes that Jesus will bring when He returns as King.

[PROP] Isaiah 32:1-8 gives us three changes to look forward to when Jesus comes.

[TS] Let’s take a look at each one…

Major Ideas

CHANGE #1: The Change in Shepherds (Isaiah 32:1-2)

Isaiah 32:1–2 NASB95

1 Behold, a king will reign righteously And princes will rule justly. 2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

[EXP] Judah has been led in rebellion against God by its rebellious shepherds, i.e., its rebellious leaders. They weren’t all rebellious, but enough them were so that the lot of them is considered rebellious on the whole.

But God promises a King who will reign righteously, and along with him will come princes who rule justly.

This King who reigns righteously does so because He is righteous in Himself.

This, of course, refers to Jesus whose will sit on the throne of Israel forever, whose kingdom shall never pass away.

He is the righteous King who reigns righteously.

And along with Him will come princes to rule justly.

The NLT describes them as honest princes.

They are executives of the King who execute His righteousness throughout the kingdom.

When Jesus comes again, these princes are likely to be the Apostles.

Verse 2 says that the rule of these princes will be refreshing…

...like a refuge from the wind...

...like a shelter from the storm...

...like streams of water in a dry country...

...like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

[ILLUS] Moving on Thursday/ Carl, Stan, Bryant, Scott, Sadie /

At one point in the day, I was so parched that I opened a bottle of water and just about swallowed it in one gulp.

It was so cold and refreshing, and although I knew I needed it, I didn’t know how badly I needed it until I gulped it down.

[APP] In the same way, we probably recognize our need for better leadership.

We may, at times, even thirst for better leadership in our world, our country, our state, and in our city.

But I don’t think we will realize just how thirsty we are for better shepherds until the Good Shepherd comes to rule and reign and His Apostles comes to execute His righteousness throughout creation.

Until then we keep looking for and striving for the kind of leadership that Peter described in 1 Peter 5:1-4…

1 Peter 5:1–4 NASB95

1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

[TS]...

CHANGE #2: The Change in Subjects (Isaiah 32:3-4)

Isaiah 32:3–4 NASB95

3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 The mind of the hasty will discern the truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

[EXP] Not only will shepherds or rulers change, but so will the subjects or those ruled over.

Notice that through Isaiah, God mentions the eyes, the ears, the mind, and the tongue.

When the Kingdom of God arrives in full with the return of Jesus…

…the eyes of all kingdom subjects will not be closed or dimmed, but all will see clearly.

…the ears of all kingdom subjects will listen, given attention, or hearken.

…the minds of all kingdom subjects will discern or understand and know.

…the tongues of all kingdom subjects will speak clearly and distinctly.

But what will these kingdom subjects see, hear, know, and speak of?

The truth as it is in Jesus.

All those subjects of the kingdom will see, hear, know, and speak the truth about Jesus clearly.

Even the rash (or as the NLT calls them, hotheads) will speak the truth about Jesus with sense and understanding.

Even those who previously stumbled over their words will speak of Him plainly.

[ILLUS] I’m ready for the shepherds (i.e., our leadership) to change, but I’m even more ready to be changed as subject within the kingdom.

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul was ready to be changed. He wrote…

Romans 7:22–24 NASB95

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Paul sees the answer in Jesus Christ…

Romans 7:24–25 NASB95

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

[APP] One day, when Jesus comes again, we shall be transformed; we shall be changed so dramatically that we may struggle to recognize ourselves, but this change has already begun in us if we trusted Jesus and are walking with Him.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, that if we are following Jesus, then…

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 ...we all, with unveiled face (are) beholding the glory of the Lord, (and) are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The change in ourselves that we are rightly longing for at the return of Jesus has already begun in us in the Spirit of Jesus.

[TS]...

CHANGE #3: The Change in Society (Isaiah 32:5-8)

Isaiah 32:5–8 NASB95

5 No longer will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of as generous. 6 For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty. 7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises wicked schemes To destroy the afflicted with slander, Even though the needy one speaks what is right. 8 But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.

[EXP] The fool, the rogue, and the nobleman.

The society of Judah celebrated the fool as noble and the rogue (or scoundrel) as generous, but the fool was immoral and the scoundrel was a thief.

Verse 6 highlight the fools speech, his heart, and his actions.

With his speech, the fool speaks nonsense and error against the Lord.

Concerning his heart, he inclines it toward wickedness.

With his actions, he practices ungodliness.

All of this keeps the Bread of Life from the spiritually hungry, and it keeps Living Water from the spiritually thirsty.

Verse 7 speaks about the scoundrel’s weapons, schemes, and destructive effects.

His weapons are evil.

His schemes are wicked.

He destroys with the affliction of slander.

He is one who would prey upon orphans and widows to line his own pockets.

He is one who would declare the guilty innocent for a bribe and deprive the innocent of their rights (Isa. 5:23).

The world holds up the immoral fool as a hero and respects the predatory scoundrel.

But when Jesus comes, the noble man who devises and stands on noble plans, will be lauded and respected.

[ILLUS] I think I was in high school when President Bill Clinton was impeached. He had committed perjury when he denied a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky during a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones.

I remember some interviewing asking famous musical artists about their opinion of Bill Clinton and his actions.

One by one, they said, “I think it’s cool that he messes around with chicks. He’s like one of us.”

That’s an example of our broken, backward world celebrating fools in their foolishness.

[APP] When Jesus returns, it won’t be the fool or the scoundrel who receives the praise.

It will be the noble person who devises noble things and stands on noble plans.

This nobility is the practice of loving God and loving others, which is exactly what the fool and scoundrel refuse to do.

While we wait for Jesus to come again, let us commit ourselves to not celebrating fools or scoundrels like the rest of the world.

Let us commit ourselves to only devising that which loves God and loves neighbor.

Let us commit ourselves to stand on those noble plans.

The world will mock those plans.

The world will discredit those plans.

The world will try to ruin those plans.

But stand on those plans because we are waiting for the King who will reign in righteousness, and we do not want to be ashamed at His appearing.

[TS]...

Conclusion

[PRAYER]

———-

Near to the Heart of God, Hymn #458

There is a place of quiet rest… A place where sin cannot molest… A place where our Savior meet… A place where all is joy and peace… Near to the heart of God.

Until Jesus comes and changes everything, let us continually draw near to the heart of God so that we can be continually changed.