God's Wrath and God's Mercy

As we left off in verse 16 last week, we were left with the Lord saying to Zion, “you are my people.” That is a sweet and meaningful reminder to those who are in exile. Undoubtedly, the people of Israel felt a palpable lack of the sense of the presence of God in their suffering. Had God forsaken them in their misery? Had he left them in their suffering to fend for and uphold themselves?

Of course, the answer is no! God had not left them destitute. Remember what verses 14-15 said.

The people were “bowed down,” but they would soon be released. The people would not be forgotten by God to the point of their utter destruction, and they would not be neglected to the point of starvation, the Lord their God would come to their aid. For he is the one who stirs up the sea so that it roars - he is the one in charge of their circumstances. The LORD of Hosts is his name. That name is referring to the masses of heavenly beings which God presides over and do His will. He is infinitely strong, and he rules over the forces of the universe to do His bidding - he can take care of his own, even when it seems He is absent.

So this reminder of the Lord’s presence leads us into a very pivotal portion in the last 7 verses of this chapter. Here we see the comparison, the contrast, between God’s wrath and His mercy. God’s wrath was being poured out on Israel because of their disobedience, as we have learned in weeks past. But in His wrath, He was not far off. And soon, His mercy would be revealed.

I wanted to hone in on the end of this chapter because as we saw last week, it is in the Lord’s nature to comfort those who seek him, and his comfort is the salvation of His people. And as we see this week the contrast between God’s wrath and God’s mercy, we must remember that one major aspect of God’s salvation of His people is His mercy. The word mercy does not appear in this passage, but the concept certainly does. This idea of God taking away the wrath deserved, removing it not to be experienced anymore.

Exodus 20:5–6 ESV

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Those verses are directly precedent to the giving of the 10 commandments in Exodus 20. And we see there the contrast so vividly - wrath for those who hate God, and steadfast love to those who love Him.

Steadfast love - that is also translated as mercy. They are one in the same. The Word behind mercy, or steadfast love, is the Hebrew word Chesed. And the concept behind the translation of Chesed is covenant faithfulness. Covenant faithfulness.

What is God’s covenant faithfulness? Why do we see the idea of steadfast love and mercy in God’s covenant faithfulness? It is because of this: God always upholds his end of the deal, even when we do not. God’s love and commitment to faithfulness is constant, even when ours waivers. God’s faithfulness endures even when we break out commitment to Him.

With that in mind, may we view this passage together, and I hope to see this:

The Mercy of God is seen most vividly against the bleak background of His wrath.

1. God’s Wrath is Miserable - Vs. 17-20

Now I know what you’re thinking. Pastor Aaron, that is a rather stark statement. And it is, it’s not something you would find typically printed on a Christian t-shit, or embroidered on a decorative pillow. And there is a reason for that, because we don’t constantly dwell on it. and we shouldn’t constantly dwell on God’s wrath but we should probably meditate on that aspect of His nature more than we would like to. But please stay with me, and I promise the entirety of the sermon won’t this bleak.

The pictures that are given in these verses of Israel experiencing the wrath of God are vivid.

God’s wrath is pictured as “the cup.” The outpouring of that wrath is pictured as drinking from that cup. The experience of that wrath is pictured as being staggering drunk from the contents of the cup.

It is as if the Lord is speaking to Israel as if they were an individual who had drunk to the point of severe intoxication, and they were sleeping in their drunkeness in dire condition out on the street.

So begins this portion of scripture with a call to “wake yourself, wake yourself, Stand up, O Jerusalem”

This is in contrast to the call for the Lord to awaken in verse 9. There the picture was of a call for God to arise and to do what he had promised, to make his mighty hand known. Here the picture is God telling His people, “I am awake, I have never slept, and I am here to awaken you to rise up from your lowly condition.”

In the middle of vs 17 we see the first use of this picture, “the cup.” It is called the cup of his wrath. This is the first time Isaiah has used this image, but it is certainly not the only time the image of the cup is used in scripture. I want to highlight some examples.

The weeping prophet, Jeremiah later used this image as well to speak of the cup of God’s wrath poured out on the nations.

Jeremiah 25:15 ESV

Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

It is interesting to note that later on, Jeremiah looks back and refers to Babylon itself as the cup of the Lord’s wrath that all the nations were drunk with.

Jeremiah 51:7 ESV

Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.

The prophets are not the only ones to use this terminology.

Psalm 75:8 ESV

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Here in the psalms we find that the cup is a poetic portrait of the Lord’s sovereign ruling over the earth. Here we find that it is “well mixed.” It is tailored to the specific purpose of God.

But the cup is not always used in the negative sense, the sense of judgment.

Psalm 16:5 ESV

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

Psalm 23:5 ESV

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

The cup stands for the contents. So the picture of the Cup, the image of of drinking what the Lord has given to be drunk, is an image of the Lord blending all life’s experiences into a purposeful experience either for blessing or for cursing. Sometimes the cup is sweet and welcome, as in the Psalms of David where his cup ran over with blessings. Sometimes, the cup is bitter and full of wrath, a reminder of God’s holiness and justice, and meant to show the consumer of that cup that sin has not gone unnoticed.

Keep this picture in your mind, and in the second portion of the sermon I want to bring our attention to another use of the image of the cup that we find in the New Testament.

So what has Israel experienced in God’s wrath?

17 - she was drunk to staggering.

drunk to the dregs - Israel had drunk all of it, drained it dry, to the point of staggering humiliating drunkeness for the sins of disobedience and unbelief.

18 - She is without a guide.

the image here is really interesting. Upon reading into this I found that it was common practice in the Ancient Near East for children to have to take care of their drunken parents - to literally lead them by the hand to safety.

Who are Israel’s children? Well those who have come from her and gone forth from her. It is her own inhabitants, her own people. The image is this - there is no one within your ranks that remains strong enough to lead you out of this drunkeness. There is no one that has remained sober from God’s wrath enough to emerge as a leader - all were affected, all were sleeping, as it were.

19 - She was devastated.

The picture here is dual. Devastation and destruction, and famine and sword.

Devastation and Destruction probably refer to the state of the city of Jerusalem.

Famine and Sword probably refer to the state of the people.

In other words, the totality of this experience of wrath reached out into all parts of life.

20 - She was helpless

The image goes back to the former inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Israel, being helpless - they have fainted under the severity of God’s justice. “They lie at the head of every street.” The effects are evident wherever you look. No one can escape the obvious reality that God had visited his people in judgment. “like an antelope in a net.” Have you ever seen a four-footed animal caught up in a net? The stability and nimbleness of their four feet turn into a tangled and hopeless mess when caught up in that way. So here, any stability and uprightness the people had on their own was turned to entanglement at the outpouring of the wrath of God.

What a dark and bleak picture of Israel because of sin! And what a dark and bleak picture we all find ourselves within because of sin! Bear in your mind that vivid imagining of staggering, drunken, passed out on the side of the street, helpless, hopeless, entangled in a net - therein you find a picture of not just sinful Israel, but of all mankind in their own sin.

2. God’s Mercy is Remarkable

I realize the first part of this message has been bleak, but scripture does not mince words in painting the bleakness of the human condition because of sin, and under the wrath of God. To ignore these things would be to remove the backdrop for the grandeur of God’s mercy.

When I was 18 years old, I was home for Christmas break from college. I was working overtime trying to pay my college tuition and also save up for something very special I intended to buy.

After working a 11 or 12 hour day outside in the cold Vermont December, I drove to a Jewelry store in Lebanon NH. Still in my insulated Carhartt coveralls and boots, I walk in surrounded by expensive watches and jewelry and well-dressed people. A very nice lady approached me and asked me how she could help me. Feeling a little out of place i said, “well I apologize that I look like a bit of a mess, but I’ve just come from work and I would like some help picking out an engagement ring.”

She was happy to help me, and we spent the next two hours going over stones and cut and clarity and color and carat and setting and size and all these things I had never given much thought to. Every time she would pull a diamond or a ring out of the case she would always do the same thing - she would put it on a black velvet backdrop before handing it to me to look at. Why did she do this? Well she did it so she could sell me a ring, no doubt. But why the black backdrop? She did it because the black backdrop of the velvet made the glimmering and the glistening facets of the diamond and the contours and the color of the gold settings stand out and appear just that much more glorious.

So it is with the wrath of God and the mercy of God. If we view the human condition as being not that bad, and basically ok, just needing a little help here and there, a little touch up or sprucing up around the edges, then the mercy of God looks like a small thing we can just add to our lives. However, if we look at the human condition how God describes it, as staggering and drunken and helpless and destitute and without any power or ability to make it any better, then God’s mercy shines through with the glory and worth that it actually bears.

In verse 21, the paragraph changes - after the dramatic and gruesome imagery of God’s wrath, we find the word “therefore.”

God has called Israel to wake up, wake up, listen. “hear this!” you who are afflicted and drunk, but not with wine. “hear this”

The prophetic formula - “Thus says your Lord, The LORD your God.” Incredibly, here Isaiah uses all three of the proper names used commonly for God.

Adonai, YahWeh, Elohim.

Adonai- the sovereign, supernatural master of all.

Yahweh - the covenant God, the self-existent one,

Elohim - the one true God.

The sovereign, self-existent, one true God is seen here pleading the cause of his people. Though He sovereignly enacted the outpouring of the cup of his wrath against sin, His wrath has now been satisfied and he has taken the cup of staggering from Israel’s hand. The bowl of his wrath they would drink no more.

We said this earlier, but salvation must include the satisfying of the wrath of a Holy God. Here, God is saying “My wrath upon you is coming to an end.” The Judge of all the earth has taken the case of Israel to the bar of his own Justice and pleads their cause.

Alec Motyer puts it this way,

“The poor drunkard is awakened to a wondrous fact: the cup has gone from the hand that so justly held it. Wrath was deserved, wrath was measured out, wrath is gone - and gone forever.”

The due reward of their sinful deeds and unbelief is averted by Divine intervention. Wrath against their sin was justice, but this is something beyond justice - it is mercy.

Here, in the immediate context, we find the wonderful prophesy and prediction of the exile coming to an end - and a time where God’s wrath would move from being poured out on Israel, to being poured out on Babylon their enemy. God’s purpose for Babylon as a judgment and schoolmaster for Israel was nearing its completion, and now Babylon itself which proved to be wholly evil and abusive of its captives would receive the cup of God’s wrath.

Again, we think of this concept of God’s justice. God’s wrath was justice for Israel against their sin and unbelief, and God’s wrath is justice against Babylon for their sin and unbelief. But what about this idea of mercy? What about this removal of wrath from Israel? Since God is just, and Israel had offended an eternally holy God, shouldn’t the wrath be eternal for their offense? By the standards of God’s justice, yes - the wrath should have remained. They should have never been relieved. They had, after all, broken their end of the covenant with God. They had disobeyed, and fallen into unbelief in the one true God.

Yet here we see, like a glistening gemstone against a perfectly black background, the Mercy of the Lord shining through for His people - those who seek Him and listen to the voice of His servant.

This contrast of Wrath and Mercy reminds me of the Prophet Hosea, who prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel some time before Isaiah. As the account goes, He was called to marry a prostitute - an adulterous woman. This marriage was a picture of God’s relationship with Sinful, unfaithful Israel. Hosea and Gomer, his wife, had three children. Jezreel, Lo-Ruahma, and Lo-Ammi. Lo Ruhama and Lo Ammi mean No Mercy, and Not My people. God was using Hosea’s marriage as a picture of unfaithful israel, and their children were prophetic in that God was saying to unfaithful Israel, you are not my people, and you do not have my mercy. This was the state of their rebellion.

This is the same situation Israel finds herself in when God calls them in our passage today to “Awaken! Awaken!” But now God has reversed the indictment. What did he say to Zion in verse 16? You are my people! And what did he say about the cup of his wrath? He has taken it away!

A people which once were not God’s people because of their sin and rebellion, God now calls His people. And a people who once only experienced God’s wrath, now He has extended His mercy.

Why did I bring up Hosea as an illustration?

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter is bringing this concept forward into the New Covenant, speaking to those who had converted out of their former darkness into the light of Christ, he uses this illustration from Hosea - once you were not a people, now you are God’s people. Once you had not recieved mercy, but now you have recieved mercy. The contrast here is having been called from darkness, into a marvelous light!

And Paul makes the point even in another way. Speaking of those who have been saved by Christ he says -

Ephesians 2:1–5 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Here Paul paints another dark picture - those without Christ were dead in sins, following the dead-end road like the rest of the world, and he said we were children of wrath with the rest of mankind. This is why I said that the bleak and dark picture painted of Israel in Isaiah 51 is true of every individual - we are all under God’s wrath because of our sin, but there is an answer! And that answer is God’s merciful salvation.

The contrast of wrath and mercy was clear in Isaiah, and it is clear in the New Testament also. Without Christ, in our sin, by ourselves, we are without hope. But in Christ, we find mercy in God’s salvation which is offered to all who will believe in Christ.

I said earlier that I wanted to bring out another use of the picture of the cup in the new testament. You may have an idea what that is.

Leading up the crucifixion of Christ, as Christ prayed to the Father in the Garden before his arrest, we find this.

Matthew 26:39 ESV

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

and again a little later.

Matthew 26:42 ESV

Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

The cup of God’s wrath which is due for all sinful mankind was ultimately poured out on Christ, God’s Son. In Isaiah, the cup of God’s wrath was removed from Israel and placed on her enemy Babylon. And Babylon deserved the cup of God’s wrath, but as we noted, so did Israel! But the taking away of the cup of wrath there was only a picture of the ultimate taking of the cup of wrath - for in the Gospel, the Wrath of God was poured out on Christ for all who would believe and come to Him in faith. And I submit to you that there is no greater contrast between wrath and mercy, no greater picture of the salvation of God’s people than the wrath of a holy God being poured upon and absorbed by God’s very Son.

What is the application of this?

From the account in Isaiah we learn that for God’s people, he is a God of mercy and faithfulness. He does not leave His people destitute, and even if He ordains great difficulty for a season, He does so with the end in mind that leads to greater glory. The God who ordained wrath for Israel because of their sin was the same God who was ready at the right moment to remove that cup of wrath from them, never to be drunk again.

God is expertly meting out the mixture of experiences in your life to accomplish His purpose. If you know Him, be assured that even in the darkest of days, his work is taking place. He has not forsaken you, and he has not left you without comfort and hope.

2. If you are here today without Christ, you are in need of God’s mercy. To put it any other way would be dishonest of me as a preacher of the Word. Every person in this world without Christ is an enemy of God because of sin, but every person who comes to Him in faith is made a child of His my Grace. If you do not know Christ, perhaps today He is drawing you to Himself - trust in Him, find His loving mercy, and He will never leave you helpless.

The Mercy of God is seen most vividly against the bleak background of His wrath.