What Will Be
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In Isaiah 2:1-5 God gave us the vision he’s working towards, the way things ought to be:
His mountain a (symbol of power, security, and providence) is going to be higher than any other
People will flow to it and learn his ways
They will then be sent out to teach those ways
And the result will be worldwide peace - something like the garden of Eden as we turn all our weapons of war into gardening tools.
And God’s mountain isn’t going to just be little bit higher than the other mountains. They’re going to be cast down and made completely useless. Isaiah asks us
22 Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
The problem is that we make much out of man - especially when it comes to leaders and rulers of nations. In the days of Isaiah, Jerusalem was always looking for hope and salvation from one of the nations - an alliance with Egypt, appeasing Assyria, paying off Syria.
It’s important for us today because more and more people appear to trust in Mt. Rushmore than God’s mountain. It’s troubling to me that we have people wearing shirts like this, and making statues like this, and even the president himself posting images like this.
Isaiah 3 shows us what happens when we make mountains out of men and flow to their vision of how things ought to be. And then Isaiah 4 we have the true king of glory who deserves all of our praise and adoration.
Judgment
Judgment
1 For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; 2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. 4 And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. 5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. 6 For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”; 7 in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”
Go had promised that when his mountain is established that all of the idols would be cast down. This is what it looks like when Jerusalem’s idol is cast down. God is going to take away everything that gave them a sense of security and comfort, everything that they thought would save them.
God says he will take away all support of bread and water. It’d be like waking up and finding out the faucets don’t work. You drive down to the grocery store to find out everything has been bought out already.
He’s going to take away the mighty man and the solider, the captain of fifty and the man of rank. No more police. No more military. Your safety is on you.
He takes away the judge and prophet, and the diviner. These were the people you looked to to make decisions. But without them nobody is in charge, and there’s nothing but anarchy.
There will be such desperation for guidance and leadership that any man who just happens to have a cloak will be in charge of all the ruins. It’s like seeing a guy with a suit and thinking “He must know what he’s doing!” But even a heap of ruins will be too much responsibility for any person.
And make no mistake, this will not turn out to be some libertarians ideal dream state. New York City garbage men went on strike for just two weeks and the city nearly shut down. Imagine if they also shut down emergency services, all utilities, and no food or water was brought in.
We actually don’t have to imagine it - it’s similar to what happened to Berlin after WWII. All the German leadership was dead or fleeing, leaving the people to fend for themselves.
The women were raped en masse by the Russians
The children became feral
The men left behind were too weak to do anything about it
And the reason he’s taking it all away is right here in verse 8-11:
The Reason
The Reason
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. 9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. 10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
Jerusalem has set itself up as it’s own mountain. They have their own idea of what the good life is and how to get there - and so they are against the Lord and defy his glory. It’s not about you! It’s about us!
And we’re all about sin.
They are openly rejecting God’s ways in favor of their own. They look like the kid who breaks the rules and smiles at you, “Whatcha gonna do about it?” They proclaim their sin in open rebellion against God’s ways.
This is where we’re still at today:
A man went through a bikini barista coffeeshop without his pants on. When they filmed him and put his face on the internet he killed himself. Now he has cult following of young men who promise to also expose themselves in drive-throughs.
Pride month is an annual celebration of defying God.
People film themselves terrorizing innocent bystanders and get millions of likes online.
So God warns them that what’s about to happen is all on them. They have brought this on themselves.
It will happen in this life as the promise of sin turns bitter.
Promiscuity turns the blessing of sex into a cheap thrill without intimacy or connection.
You cheat your neighbor and lose a helping hand in your time of need.
Your envy spoils the enjoyment of anything good unless everyone else has it worse
Pride isolates you.
Greed leaves you unsatisfied.
Your addiction becomes a chain.
This is why Paul calls it ‘the wages’ of death - we’re being paid back for what we work at.
But then we will also feel the effect of sin in our separation form God.
When we run after sin we’re running away from everything that is good. And you can run so far after it that nothing can bring satisfaction anymore. You will find yourself craving for more of the things that could never fill you.
Jerusalem is flowing to another mountain, not God’s, and it’s because their leaders have led them astray them.
12 My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. 13 The Lord has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples. 14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of hosts.
Men have set up their own mountains in opposition to God, claiming to offer all the security, providence, and luxury that actual mountains provided. They dress themselves up as divine to give themselves an extra edge and to convince you that they’re at least on an even playing field with God.
They want you streaming up into their mountain on false promises
They take away from the glory of God and try to divert the nations to themselves
But the result isn’t worldwide peace like God offers - it’s desolation, devouring, crushing and grinding
Don’t believe their lies.
Some politicians would have you believe that you can’t call yourself a Christian unless you stand for the flag, support the troops, are a red-blooded patriot who loves unfettered capitalism.
Other will say that you can only be a true Christian if you oppose ICE, support unlimited abortions, and stop talking about sin because it’s harming our self-esteem.
Then we have the social influences. People posting their hot-takes and hidden insights that will make you change your worldview if you only knew what they did. Major movie studios and television networks share stories that reflect their own worldviews and ideas of what the latter days should look like and who’s stopping you from reaching them.
Don’t believe their lies.
Anyone who proudly proclaims their sin in opposition to God is only concerned about making their mountain higher than anybody else’s.
But no matter how glorious they appear, how high those mountain peaks seem to reach up - it’s all going to be thrown down.
16 The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, 17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 the signet rings and nose rings; 22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. 24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. 25 Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground. 1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
This is a picture of the excess in Jerusalem. They’re covered from head to toe in riches to the point where they jingle around when they walk. And they’re walking around with outstretched necks, doing everything they can to just get a little bit higher.
They’ve done everything they could to make themselves glorious, to fill themselves with splendor, and exalt themselves as high as possible - and God rips it all away.
Baldness
A stench
Their beauty will be replaced with a branding because they thought they were the one’s in charge but are really just serving sin.
Every mountain that sets itself up against God is the same.
They look real good
They seem high up there
But in the end they’ll be exposed as weak and ugly and desperate
The Branch
The Branch
So Israel has it’s problems
They’ve rejected God’s word for the values of the nations
They trust in man more than God
They’ve set up their own mountain of glory in opposition to God
So God is going to level it.
But remember, God’s judgment is for a grander purpose of restoration which we see in Isaiah 4. After God throws everything else down he’s going to show up true beauty.
2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
God is going to show true beauty in the branch
Out of the ashes comes a new growth
Elsewhere in Isaiah it’s the messiah - God’s special chosen servant
When they translated the Hebrew into Aramaic they just said ‘messiah’
People won’t honor themselves anymore, but the fruit that comes from the branch
The branch will produce fruit and that will be the glory of Israel
He will make God’s people holy - set them up to be what they were meant to be
He will wash the filth
Elsewhere vomit or excrement
We want to pass the dirt baby onto someone else
God takes us and washes us
All of this will be only because God causes it to be
Clear picture of Jesus
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
We have nothing to glory in but God
Why do we give it up to other mountains that can’t stand in the presence of God?
Anyone who says “I can!” needs to be reminded that we can do nothing without our savior, and nobody else can either
