The LORD will fill Zion with Justice!
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Last “woe” aka “ah!”
Zion’s Treasure (v1-6)
Zion’s Treasure (v1-6)
These 6 woes have all been in the context of a coming Assyrian force. Assyria had taken the 10 tribes of Israel in the north, and then when a new king took the throne, he decided to come back for more.
Sennacherib wanted to come down and take Judah by force, especially Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was the premier city of the region. And for the Israelites, it was the centre of their faith; it’s the City of David, their great king. It’s the place where the temple was built, where God was worshipped, the festivals took place there. And… It was a fortified city on a hill that made it very difficult to take.
Now even though the odds looked bad - Assyria had overwhelming numbers - there was a factor that most modern historians would never take into account when looking at these events: the LORD, YHWH! His plans and purposes will overide the circumstances of that day. And you see that in our first verse:
Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
First note Woe, not against Judah, but against the Enemy!
Assyria has been used by God to bring His judgement, but they too will be judged. You know the saying “there’s no honour among thieves”? Someone who steals and breaks the law cannot be trusted by another person who does the same!
There’s a plot device that you find in some books and movies where you have a traitor who betrays the one team to the others. But, because they have now proven themselves to be untrustworthy, the bad guys don’t want them and will betray the betrayer. And thus in poetic justice, the betrayers get betrayed.
Now Assyria are the bad guys, but they are the bad guys who are used by God for his good purposes. And when God’s purposes are fulfilled, they will receive their own poetic justice. They will be destroyed like they destroyed others. They will get what’s coming to them
This is a great comfort to Israel. They will not be utterly destroyed, and God has got their back. In fact he will be gracious:
O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
Cry to God for grace. He has every right to wipe them out, but the plea is for him to act in kindness and mercy and bring salvation instead of comeuppance.
They want God to fight for them, to put the enemy nations who have oppressed them into flight.
In expectation of deliverance God is praised, and his great blessings are remembered:
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.
There is a full expectation that God will save the holy city: Zion.
Zion was a name for the hill of Jerusalem. And in the Bible it comes to represent the holy dwelling place on earth where God and his people meet.
Isaiah prophesies that the High God will secure Jerusalem and fill it with righteousness. It will become a good place.
He will bring security and blessing once more.
This is a beautiful picture of the riches of God!
These riches are ours. This prophecy looked forward to a better future.
The Lord was gracious to deliver Jerusalem out of the hands of the Assyrians, but it was a stay of execution. Eventually they would fall to Babylon.
But this prophecy is not emptied of meaning. With the coming of Jesus Christ prophecies like this are kind of reframed, and we see that there is a greater spiritual reality here. This is not about a literal city on a particular hill. Jerusalem was the stage on which God revealed himself and his word and it points to a greater reality of God’s global plans.
We take up this passage as a prayer of our own, because Jesus has come to scatter the enemies and to bring salvation for all who turn to him.
Jesus is exalted and he will fill the holy city with Justice and righteousness
Jesus is the stability of our times and our Salvation and wisdom and source of true knowledge
The Fear of the LORD is our treasure.
There is a holy City, zion, that we hope for and long for, but it is not a place in the middle east, it is instead the heavenly city that will come down out of heaven like a bride on her wedding day, ready to join with Christ her husband for eternity in a new heavens and a new earth!
The Lord Arises! (v7-12)
The Lord Arises! (v7-12)
We return to the sorry state of affairs in Judah and surrounding areas. For example:
Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
It looks bad, but...
“Now I will arise,” says the Lord, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.
Now x3! It highlights an abruptness and forcefullness of the LORDs action. He will act, and when he does, the enemies will be burned up. He will bring them to an end when he arises.
Once again this is a comfort to us, the Church. We’re not in the exact position of Judah, but we do have our fair share of threats on every side and it seems as if we are overcome at times.
But the Lord will defend his people, he will arise, like he did to bring us salvation in Jesus. He will be exalted, and our enemies will be either be rescued or destroyed.
Who can dwell in Zion? (v13-16)
Who can dwell in Zion? (v13-16)
The news about God’s mighty deeds will spread.
Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
This is something we don’t like to talk about much these days, and that is how terror should lead to repentance.
If you are not a Christian, or if you claim the name of Christ and yet you are walking contrary to his ways, you should be terrified. You should be scared out of your wits. When the LORD God has set his face against you, you’re a gonner. You should be afraid, very afraid.
Like those who lived in Zion and yet were sinning against God.
You should shake in your boots.
How will you ever live with God? How will you every enter into the presence of our God who is a consuming fire?
You must be perfectly righteous!
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
How can I become this person who can live with God?
the LAW!
You failed!
You need the righteousness of God from Jesus!
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Behold Zion, where the Lord Is (v17-22)
Behold Zion, where the Lord Is (v17-22)
The righteous will see a glorious future, where the enemies are taken away
Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.
and
You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
Instead of enemies they will see the beautiful holy city, safe, festive, and where the Lord reigns as king!
Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass. For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.
Remember when it said in v17 you will see the king? Then it says the Lord is king. God’s people will one day be able to look on our King who is God! How is this possible?
Yet we’re told the Jesus is the King of God’s people… So… Jesus is God who we will one day lay eyes on.
That will be a secure place, where no battleship will come.
The Forgiven People (v23-24)
The Forgiven People (v23-24)
A last comparison between the enemies of God and his own people:
Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey. And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
The enemies of God are like a sailing ship with out sail or mast.
They will be so utterly powerless that folks in wheelchairs can roll up and overthrow the bad guys. All the good stuff of value that the enemies have will be given to God’s people.
And as for God’s people, living in Zion, they will be freed from all forms of sickness and sin. Indeed their sin will be forgiven.
This is the future for all God’s people, the faithful Israelite of the OT and all those who follow Christ. Their sins are forgiven.
Our sins are forgiven through Jesus.
So what?
So what?
