The Judgement of the Lord_ByKeith Welch Date: 22July2018 Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. What has this to do with the book of Isaiah? One of the primary themes of this book is God s impending judgment on Israel and the Nations. The first 39 chapters are predominantly focused on this theme. All Judgement flow from God s person and attributes. His absolute authority, righteousness and power over all things - God is completely other - He is Holy. This is also a theme of Isaiah The prophetic word brings clarity and conviction where there is confusion and deception including self- deception. This was the case in the time of Isaiah and continues to be true today. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Isaiah a prophet to his time gives some of the best descriptions of God himself and of his Heart for his people and the nations. In addition, Isaiah casts light on his own times and culture warning of coming Judgement including God s reasons and purposes for it. While the people of Israel is are divided into two separate socio-political nations God sees them all as his people. Judah, the southern kingdom s the primary target Audience They are experiencing a bit of a renaissance economically, politically and religiously at this point in their history. All things that give a country and people confidence and a sense of well being while declining morally and spiritually. Through Isaiah, God lowers the veil to allow Isaiah to see the true condition of his people in light of the most intense revelation of Holy God since the Moses met God in Sinai (Isaiah 6).
God is Holy, Holy, Holy. He is glorious high and lifted (Isaiah 6). He is the all powerful, sovereign, majestic, creator, redeemer who far exceeds the limits of our human ability to understand or experience (Isa 40-45). Israel is guilty of reducing God to an image that they have created and can control thorugh religious ritual - it amounts to idolatry Their sin and dismissal of God has made their worship pointless and repulsive to God (1:11-15) - they are estranged from God, but are not fully aware of it. 1:4Ah, sinful nation,a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 1:5b... the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint Isaiah uses the word WOE 22 times in the book of Isaiah as a pronouncement against the people s sin expressing both anger and grief. But these are not the rantings of a wild eyed prophet. Rather they are the measured description of the fallen condition of God s people. An exclamation like Aya here in Hong Kong - usually prefacing a pronouncement of judgement Woes given for the following reasons For Drunkenness - excessive intake of alchohol (mentioned on two occasions) For Willful sinning - iniquity (immoral or grossly unfair behaviour) For Calling Good, Evil and Evil, Good. moaralizing and justifying their immoral behavior For being Pride and rebellion being Wise in their own eyes, looking for wisdom, self help, and success anywhere except from God. For making unrighteous decrees - laws that violate God s laws For hiding their sin from God - self deception and hardening of their hearts toward God For plundering and defrauding others - making gain from the by oppressing others rather than showing equity and compassion. Striving with God, Testing God by challenging his authority over their lives - seeking instead self-determination, personal control, Pride of Life. A culture that is reaping the the chaos that their willful sin has sown and trying to cover it up with intentional self deception, justification, drunkenness: doing anything to maintain their sense of status, control and comfort. - Sound familiar Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Isaiah is a warning letter, but also an invitation to his people to consider their ways and find restoration of covenant relationship with God through repentance. Isaiah 1:16-20 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah reveals the double edge sword (two sided of the coin so to speak) of God s judgment. What is God s Judgement? Simply put: God s judgment is accountability - God is Creator, Lawgiver and Judge - He is Holy and he holds his creation accountable to the righteous laws both natural and revealed that he has established. Accountabilty for the world - Romans 1:18-31 John 3:19-21 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. This is true of all humanity, but particularly of those that God has called to Himself. Their is a higher expectation and accountability for God s people. Israel & primily Judah who is the audience and subject of much of Isaiah were God s chosen people called to be his light in the world Deuteronomy 7:6-11 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. Why does God Judge? When humanity persistently violates his righteous decrees, God acts to correct and restore humanity to right relationship with Him. Judging the nations - Isaiah 13-23 outline God s judgement against the nations. Pride & arrogance, wickedness Psalm 1:4-6 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. Burdens Against the Nations (13-23) Isaiah proclaims judgments and pronounces Woes against the nations for their sins, some he predicts total destruction while future repentance and reconciliation with God and his people is predicted for others. These nations include: Babylon (13:1-14:23; 21:1-10) - predicts their rise to power and total destruction for sin includes near future and distant future prophecies (ch. 14 - Fall of Lucifer) Assyria (14:24-27) - Assyrian control of Palestine to be broken. Philistia (14:28-32) - Coming two-fold oppression will come to destroy Philistia (29) Moab (15-16) - Moab counseled to renew good relationships with Judah because of the terror of the coming destruction. Syria (17) - Damascus the capital, God is judging them for their joined attack on Judah with Israel - Assyria will conquer them. Ethiopia (18,20) - a Woe and millennial promise for Ethiopia Egypt (19,20) - Egypt, seen as a type of the flesh and sin, will be conquered by Assyria and judged by God - also given a Millennial promise. Edom (21:11-12) - exhortation to return to God Arabia (21:13-17) - Will be invaded and significantly weakened. Jerusalem & Shebna (22) - Jerusalem called Valley of Vision they ignore the prophetic warnings and so invasion is imminent. Shebna (Hezekiah s Scribe) rebuked for building a monument for himself - will lose position & die in a foreign land. Tyre (23) - future desolation promised (Babylon and Greece).
Judging His People - Difficulty tests and purifies the people of God 1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? This verse is given in the context of persecution - Peter writes again prophetically to help people understand and respond appropriately to the mistreatment of others. God is doing the same in Isaiah and to the people in Isaiah s time. He is exposing the corruption that lies beneath the thin gilded veneer and projecting into the future warning them not the be lulled into a false sense of security by the current ease and prosperity. State of the Church in the modern world Os Guiness - book Renaissance describes western civilisation and the church as being in decline because of it has grown complacent in the modern world and no longer seeks, trusts in or walks in the power of God. 2 Timothy 3:5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. He says the best thing that the prosperous post industrial church can offer is their own repentance and guidance on how to avoid the pitfalls we have fallen into by embracing the norms of our humanistic, materialistic cultures. Israel and the modern church in prosperous post industrial nations have one thing in common - a highly evolved economic, political and religious system that emphasises comfort and well being while denying the essence and power of the Gospel - The imitation of Jesus Christ. Like Israel, the church of Christ must wake up and understand the times. We must repent of our own self indulgence, pride and complacency The prophetic word is a warning to the wise to repent and draw near to God personally and to actively engage the world to live and proclaim God s word - the gospel The judgement of God is his discipline to correct the wrongs that have been done and purify His people so they will be a true representation of God / Christ to the world. How Does God Judge? 1. God Speaks Psalms 19:7-11 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. God allows sin to take its course which inevitably reveals the falsehoods that such a life is built upon. God sends His word to set the sinner free, to transform the thinking and character of the repentant, to provide a sure foundation to build a life of righteousness and true holiness that pleases the Lord and brings his blessings. 2. God removes the idols He disrupts and sometimes destroys the economic, political and religious idols that the world and His people put their trust in order to turn them to the truth Amos 4:6-11 (a contemporary of Isaiah) Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. 7 I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest;i would send rain on one city,and send no rain on another city;one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; 8 so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. 9 I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. 10 I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. 11 I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. Matthew 13:24-31 The Parable of the Weeds He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain,
then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, An enemy has done this. So the servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 3:11-12 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 3. He Patiently waits for repentance 2 Peter 3:3-11 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, This is God s Pattern Noah s Godly pattern of living and his committment to building an ark a witness to his generation. Abraham was shown the longsuffering of God toward the Amorites that inhabited Palestine. Jesus warned of the coming judgment against Jerusalem We have all been warned against the coming day of the Lord Genesis 15:13-16 Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land
that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. God is longsuffering, and calls all to repentance. Acts 17:30 (speaking of human idolatry) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, Our response to God s Judgment The warnings and promises we see in Isaiah are a repeated pattern of God s faithful engagement with the world and with his how special people. God is the Almighty creator and righteous lawgiver who holds all accountable God patiently and faithfully calls to all through his word to consider their ways and turn / return to him. - God s Word He brings judgment against sin - either in the form of discipline / disruption or condemnation/destruction God will hold his people and the people of this world accountable. What is His goal? Not destruction but deliverance from judgment and restoration of relationship with him. Ezekiel 33:10-11 Why Will You Die, Israel? And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live? Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? 2 Peter 3: 10-11 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, Respond to God s offer of Forgiveness and Restoration John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God s one and only Son. John 3:35-36 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God s wrath remains on them. Live Fully as Children of Light 2 Peter 3:14-15 Final Words Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, Are we living as a reflection of God s glory as imitators of Christ. Are we demonstrating and growing in our love for God and others - living at peace with others and demonstrating compassion. Or Do we seek our own comfort and convenience more than the Kingdom of God? We all fall short, but do allow God s word to speak to our hearts and respond with humility and repentance when we hear it? God s Wrath on Unrighteousness Romans 1:18-32 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who [d]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is [e]manifest [f]in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [g]godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like [h]corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their [i]women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the [j]men, leaving the natural use of the [k]woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, [l]sexual immorality, wickedness, [m]covetousness, [n]maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they arewhisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 [o]undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, [p]unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them