Isaiah chapter 14 and I'll read
24 through 27. Notice the mention of God's purpose
and of the certainty of it, the immutability of it. Verse 24,
Thus the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass, as I have purposed it, so shall
it stand. that I will break the Assyrian
in my hand, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall
his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off
of their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched
out upon all of the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? We'll write in chapter 46, 9
through 11. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, there's none else. I'm God, and there is none
like me. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying,
my counsel shall stand, I will do all of my pleasure. calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it." There is hardly, I think, a doctrine
more delightful and joyous under the children of God and more
despised and perverted by false teachers and hypocrites and apostates
than that of the sovereignty of our God. Granted, we do not
deny that God has a purpose, and they do not deny that God
has a purpose or has a plan, that God has indeed, they say,
formed a wonderful purpose for the life of each individual,
but that people do not always submit unto the will and the
purpose of God. Then there came a certain distinction
that we hear made in the world, and that is that God has a perfect
will, then he has a permissive will, and that he permits things
to occur which are contrary to his perfect will. And if we could
put the question to them, how then are we ever able to know
what is according to his perfect will and what is only according
unto his permissive will? We ask, how is it that the prophet
Isaiah frames his view of the purpose of God and of divine
sovereignty? Does Isaiah in these texts and
others allow for a secondary or a contingent will on these
things. In Isaiah chapter 14, 24 through
27 that we read, the overall context, to put it in context,
is a prophecy, a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. And as Matthew Henry noted in
his commentary, Babylon was not yet even in full power, and the
actual overthrow was many years after this prediction that is
made by Isaiah, only then would come the restoration of Israel. But such ruin upon Babylon would
not come in their lifetime, but here it is predicted to them
as a people. And that chapter in verse 21
to verse 23, utter ruin would befall the wicked Babylonians
and complete destruction would be visited upon their unworthy
heads and the fall of the royal family and the inner infrastructure
would be destroyed by the sovereign ordering of the providence of
God. But what comfort would that be
to the generation then and there suffering under the heavy hand? The prophet informs them that
he will give them evidence of that destruction determined to
come against Babylon. And this he does in verse 24
through verse 27 as we read, and confirms it even with a divine
oath, the Lord of hosts hath sworn." That as a forerunner
of the destruction of Babylon to come in the future, and the
suffering that was to be visited upon them, their present enemy,
the Assyrians and the Philistines, would be crushed right before
their eyes as evidence that God's Word would come to pass in due
time. In Isaiah 14.25, I will break
the Assyrians in my land, I will trod them underfoot, and the
result would be as described in the last part of verse 25. Now the yoke of the Assyrians
would be removed, the burden would be lifted off of the shoulders
of Israel and off of his people. But what assurance would they
have that such a thing should come to pass according to the
word of God? What is the ground of such a
promise, and how was it to be realized when God brought it
to pass? Well, the answer is, as in other
places and matters, the Lord God confirms His promises or
His word by an oath of swearing, as when He said, hath sworn to
this or to that, and will not repent. And he adds an oath to
his promise as to the certainty of the thing that has been declared. Verse 24 really puts it in prospect. As I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. Verse 26. This is the purpose
that is purposed upon the whole earth. That is, it is the purpose
of the Lord. This is the hand, that is God's
hand, that is stretched out upon or against all nations. And verse 27, For the Lord of
hosts hath purposed it, and who is there that shall disannul? Who is there that shall bring
it to naught? His hand has been stretched out. Who is there that
can stop it or that can turn it back? Now, we want to notice
that there are four references here to the purpose of God in
this short text that we have read, and that over and over,
using repetition after repetition, the Lord affirms the certainty
of his effecting his purpose. I was reading in Calvin, and
in verse 27, he calls it a decree, as if it were, verse 27, the
prophet hurls out a double challenge against any that would turn back
or seek to frustrate the purpose of the Lord. First of all, who
shall disannul it? Who can frustrate it? Who can
throw it down? Who can bring it to nothing?
Who can throw back and dethrone what God has purposed and has
ordained to do? Who among the people among the potentates of the earth
in their greatness, their power, their armies, their throne, and
their palaces Who among them is there that can bring the purpose
of God to absolutely nothing? Who can effectually frustrate
what God intends to do so that it comes to nothing as He has
planned it to be? said Daniel. In Daniel chapter
4, verse 35, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he does according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Job takes up the
theme, chapter 9, verse 12. Behold, he takes away. Who can
hinder him? Who can say unto him, what are
you doing? That reminds us of Paul, Romans
chapter 9 and verse 20. Who art thou? that replies against
God, being but a mortal man. Job 33 and 13, why do you strive
against him? For he gives no account of his
matters. When Daniel 4.35 said that all
the inhabitants of the earth are nothing, he means that they
are reckoned or reputed as nothing. They're nothing in comparison
to the power and the purpose of God Nothing in that they cannot
stop him, they cannot stay his hand, they cannot question him
in vain. It is impotent blathering, as
I read from someone. They can oppose him, but not
successfully. They can fight against him, but
God will bring them to powder, bring them to nothing, and it
will prevail. In the book of Acts chapter 5,
34 through 39, there's an interesting passage. The Sanhedrin there
is in session, and they're attempting to smother out the preaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostle Peter and others. And finally, there rose in their
number a respected doctor of the law, named Gamaliel, who
cautioned the members of the court or the council, we have
it in Acts chapter 5, 38 and verse 39, to leave the disciples
alone. He said, for if their movement
is of men, if it is not of God, it will come to nothing, it will
be destroyed, for every tree which my heavenly Father hath
not planted shall be rooted up. But there in verse 39 in Acts
5, if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, you will not be
able to stop it, you will not be able to destroy it, lest you
be found to be fighting against Almighty God. And to fight against
God is not a wise, it is a foolish thing indeed to do. See Acts
chapter 23 and verse 9. Now our second text in Isaiah
chapter 46 has to do with the overthrow of Babylon and with
its idols. And the prophet gives to them
a two-edged exhortation. One is to detest and abstain
from idols of the heathen. And the second one is to believe
the word of God, repose in it, rest in it and believe it and
trust it. So let's put in at verse 8 and
through verse 10 together, an exhortation to the people of
God, remember that their God was not only distinct, but he
is superior in every way to the gods and the lords of the heathen. In that He fulfills His every
word. He brings to pass His promises
and His prophecies fall out exactly as He utters them or speaks them. Verse 9, He is the Lord God,
there is none else. Verse 10, He declares the end. even things that are not yet
done, whose counsel shall stand. If you consider Isaiah chapter
46 and verse 11, here is the manner in which God will cause
his counsel to stand, of his pleasure to be accomplished and
to come to pass in totality. In the text, it is the overthrow
of Babylon again and the restoration of Israel that is the subject
of the passage. In verse 11, he said, calling
a ravenous bird, a bird of prey, if we might say it that way,
from the east. He calls this the bird of prey. And then he adds, the man that
executes my counsel. who is from a far country, not
among them, but a far country. Most sound expositors that I
have read after believe that this bird of prey, this man,
is a reference unto Cyrus, who lived along in that time. Cyrus was of Persia, a distance
away from Babylon, and was not aware that he was impelled when
he moved by the secret providence of God to move as he moved and
to do as he did. It was not the desire or the
intent or the will of Cyrus to fulfill the pleasure or the purpose
of God. He was the man that executed
my counsel. for God had determined to crush
Babylon and deliver Israel from their captivity by a man from
a far country who had no knowledge of the purpose or of the will
of God or even perhaps of that God. I was reading Matthew Henry
who said this and I'm quoting, even those who know not and mind
not God's revealed will are made use of to fulfill the counsel
of his secret will which shall all be punctually accomplished
in their season by whatever hand he pleases, unquote. That's how
God works out his counsel. Now this is the evidence of the
sovereign power of God in that God declared by the prophet what
he would do as well as the instrument that he would use to accomplish
it or to bring it to pass. Not one of his servants, not
a man whose heart was hot and heavy for God, not one committed
to God, but a man far off, a stranger, even a heathen. And yet God calls
him this, the man that executes my counsel. What a wonderful
expression by Solomon. In Proverbs chapter 21 and verse
1, you may remember it by heart, the king's heart is in the Lord's
hand, like the rivers of water, he turneth it whether so ever
he will. Now, if Cyrus is called the man
that executes my pleasure, then consider Isaiah chapter 10 and
verses 5 through 8. In the fifth verse, God, by the
prophet, calls Asura, or Assyria, the rod of mine anger, and their
staff in their hand is my indignation. Some think this refers to King
Sennacherib, as I have heard it pronounced, of Assyria, who,
like Cyrus, was unknown to them until they became the instruments
of God in his providence in their behalf. Sennacherib would be
used of the Lord, not only to chastise Israel, but then to
suffer himself the judgment of God. In the sixth verse there,
And that chapter is very somber. I will send him against a hypocritical
nation. I will give him a charge to take
up a spoil and a prey to tread upon them. But then look at the
seventh verse. that though he is sent by God,
hath a commission from God, in the form of an inward impulse
secretly put there by God, how be it? He means not so, neither
does his heart think so. We're in Isaiah 10, by the way.
He had neither idea nor intention that he would serve the purpose
of God, like those whose hands were extended to crucify the
Lord Jesus Christ. They had neither idea or the
intention to do any service unto God, or to fulfill any of the
Scripture, or to be an instrument or a mean of the providing of
salvation unto the people of God. like Joseph's brethren when
they sold him away out of envy. They meant only evil when they
sold him away into slavery. And yet God made their wicked
acts the occasion of saving much people alive and especially of
the family of Jacob. According to Revelation 17 and
verse 17, God does put it into the heart of some to act in such
a way as fulfills the word of God, for He is sovereign over
both the heart and the conscience. Isaiah 45 and 23, I have sworn
by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return unto me. that every knee and every tongue
shall bow and shall swear. Paul may have had this in his
mind when he wrote that grand passage in Philippians chapter
2 verse 9 through 11. And some see in the verse of
Isaiah 45 and verse 23 as a prediction of the calling and the conversion
of the Gentile, and is a case when he thinks something impossible
to ever come to pass, something incredible and hard to believe. It seems so contrary to the former
event that God confirms it with an oath, and because he can swear
by no greater he therefore swears by his own self. And in Isaiah
45 and 23, if it be a reference to the calling of the Gentiles,
then it seems an unlikely event to the Jew. They can never imagine
this, the wholesale calling of the Gentiles, who saw themselves
as the special people of God, and the Gentiles as dogs and
as hogs. Paul makes two direct references
to the text in his New Testament writing. Romans 14, 10 through
11, Philippians 2, verse 9 through 11, as John Gill wrote, which
the apostle quotes and applies to the judgment day, quote, unquote. As all were required to bow the
knee to Joseph when he went out in public and among the people,
Genesis 41 and 43. Whether they would or not, they
must bow the knee to Joseph when he passed by. So, in a given
time, all will bow their knee, all will confess the divinity
of the exalted and all-powerful and all-sovereign Christ. Nor is Paul describing a mass
conversion here at the judgment. I agree with Calvin that Paul
is not here speaking of voluntary obedience, but of that imposed
upon them by one who is made Lord of all, as we read from
Peter in the second chapter of the book of Acts. Let's go back. to our original premise, the
certainty of God's purpose and the certainty of his prophecy
coming to pass. We have these two original texts
that declare it very clearly, that it has to do not only with
mundane matter, but it is a sovereign, irresistible purpose in salvation
as well. We saw in Ephesians 1 this morning
some very clear statements concerning the purpose of God and concerning
salvation. Ephesians 1.5, Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 11. The redemption and the regeneration
by Christ, their calling by the Holy Spirit of God And in that
process, none of them are lost that have been given unto the
Son in the covenant of redemption. For God to declare that His purpose
shall stand and that every word shall come to pass, it must be
then that every soul that Jesus died for shall be saved. It is an open claim on God's
part that He is sovereign over all things. that all power is
His, that He is omniscient, that is, He knows all things. He has
infinite wisdom so as to guide all things to their appointed
and to their proper end. Now we're aware that some Arminian
would openly contend that God's will is not properly done and
that in many things it is turned back and is frustrated. But we have to remember that
much of Arminianism is no more, little more in our day than secular
humanism in a religious garb, depending on human will and human
action to the things of God. Now consider three areas, if
you might, to pick on the Arminian a little bit. Three areas where
Armenians might deny that the will of God is actually realized
to his delight and pleasure. Number one, that it was against
the will of God for Adam to sin. That would be their contention
likely. Number two, many insist that
it is God's will that all be saved. Each and every fallen
one in Adam, and that Christ died as a potential Savior of
every sinner. But if so, where is the will
of God, and the purpose of God, and the power of God in this,
seeing that many are perishing? And then thirdly, some Armenians
see the kingdom as having been postponed when the Jews rejected
it, or rejected the Lord as their Messiah. Now there is a passage
in Isaiah chapter 9, which pertains to the great prophecy or the
promise, the greatest that God perhaps ever made and which he
fulfilled to perfection in times past, the bringing of the Messiah
into the world. The passage is in Isaiah 9, verse
6 and verse 7, where a wonderful one is promised, called a son,
called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting
father, and the prince of peace, and he shall establish his kingdom,
et cetera, et cetera. And in the end of verse seven,
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Do any count
it strange that the zeal is put instead of power or might? Of course, his power and his
might are engaged in the performance of this, but the prophet puts
in his zeal as moving him to do it, that is, the great Messiah. Remember when it was said of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up, in John chapter 2 and verse 17. When he cleansed the temple,
and that quoted from the Psalm 69 and verse 9, the zeal of the
Lord has two aspects. A. as to wrath and indignation,
against his enemies are the enemies of righteousness, the enemies
of the people of God. And then be for that holy cause,
for that great glory of the Lord God. As we see in our Lord's
zeal in both of the cleansing of the temple recorded in the
gospel of John. Now the first great prophecy
or promise after the fall was a mighty one. A seed of the woman,
and what a mystery was there, for a member of the Godhead was
to become incarnate. A member of the Godhead was to
be incarnated in flesh, in the likeness of flesh, and assume
that nature without sin and dwell among men. And he that would
be born of a woman, a virgin, without a man, without a human
father, and the Holy One born of a woman. would be both God
and man in one and the same person and would be completely and absolutely
free from sin and free from depravity and would die with our sin upon
Him for the sins of the people of God that they might be saved. Now To put the closing touch
to it, let our minds consider the things that have been fulfilled,
already fulfilled, which have been promised, and things we
believe were fulfilled at their appointed time and in their appointed
way that the Lord had declared and decreed. For as God has been
true to much that has already come to pass, They are pledges
to all that he has said will be realized even yet in the future. His promises fulfilled in the
past are but pledges of assurance that all that he has promised
and decreed shall indeed come to pass. How majestic is his
sovereign power! He thought it! and it was so.
He thought it and it will come to pass. He spoke it and it will
be done. He also will do it. The great sovereign purpose of
our God and we thank him for teaching us that and opening
that great truth unto our hearts.