Turn with me now in your Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 35. Vengeance belongs to our God. When our God recompenses the reward of vengeance. It is
a just recompense. It's not as some of us would
say, you know, the saying, don't get mad, get even. It's not that. He's going to give men justly
exactly what we want in direct proportion that we
want it. If we want Christ, all Christ, we have Christ and we have all.
But if we want something else, we'll have it. We'll have it. And he says here in Isaiah 35.3,
Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Now back in Isaiah chapter 34,
in verse 1, he says, Come near ye nations to hear, and hearken
ye people, Let the earth hear and all that is therein, the
world and all things that come forth of it. God summons all
nations, all people, all things in the earth to hear what He
has to say. God has a holy nation. It's called a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people. And He has called, redeemed,
and that's the order of our experience. We're called and then we behold
we've been redeemed, bought with a price, saved by the precious
blood of Christ. Chosen, called, kept, redeemed,
preserved, filled, and delivered all by this God who made us His
holy nation. Every believer is a citizen of
this holy nation. The scripture says in Revelation
5, 9 that they cried out, thou art worthy to take the book and
open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of, from among every kindred and tongue
and people and nation and has made us under our God kings and
priests. And he says, open ye the gates
that the righteous nation, the righteous nation, there's just
one, just one, the righteous nation which keepeth the truth
may enter in. And yet in the midst of this
world, you and I dwell as believers, as citizens of this holy nation.
We dwell in the midst of many nations and many people and many
kindreds and many tongues. with as many different ideas
of who God is and how God saves as there are people and kindred
and tongues and nations. Our Lord sends His message of
comfort to you and I when every friend and foe would turn us
from our God would stand without the walls and cry unto us and
try to make their boast and shed innocent blood and turn you to
yourself and to your sin and to your brethren and to everything
that would condemn and separate and defile away from Christ. Our Lord sends forth His message
of comfort and He says this, Behold, now will I rise, saith
the Lord, now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. Wherefore lift up the hands that
hang down, strengthen the feeble knees. Why? Because God will
exalt Himself. God will lift up Himself in the
hearts of His people, and in doing so, He will lift us up
who are weak and base and unable to save ourselves. That's a great
promise of His salvation to us, brethren. A great promise. Our
Lord lifts us up by turning our eyes upon Zion. He says, Thine
eyes shall see the King in His beauty. Do you see Him? Do you behold the King in His
beauty? He says, look to the land of our solemnities. That land is afar off. As Paul
declared in Hebrews 12, I read to you a minute ago, this is
what he's telling us. You come passed about with a
great cloud of witnesses. Look there. Look. See Abraham
saved just as God promised. See Moses saved just as God promised. See Rahab the harlot saved just
as God promised. See Gideon saved just as God
promised. See all those to whom God made
this promise saved just as God promised. and lay aside every
weight, every sin that so easily besets you, and you flee. Make
a straight path. Cut a straight path straight
to Christ Jesus, and let everything be healed. Refresh, revive, find
rest unto your souls. Come unto Him, and be ye saved. He promises, I won't cast out,
I'll give you rest. And as we behold Him there, we
behold our Judge, we behold our Lawgiver, we behold our King,
and we lift each other up and rejoice each other's hearts with
these words of promise, He shall save us. He shall save us. What about the nations around
us? What about all those who are yet boasting and striving
against us And worst of all, the cunning
craftiness of Satan whereby he makes his ministers transformed
into angels of light. What about religion? That's such a disguise. What about that? What about that? Well, the Lord has settled us.
He's called us. He's pointed us to Zion. He's
brought us into the cleft of the rock. He's made us to behold
our King. He's comforted our hearts. He's
exalted Himself before our eyes and strengthened us to behold
Him and all His gracious promises. And now He says, hide yourself
under His wings. Hide yourself behind this One
who is the Mighty One to save. in this cleft of the rock, in
this covert from the storm, in this man who is a hiding place.
And now hear, hear, everybody, all nations, all people, hear
what the Lord says to the nations. To all the nations who are not
that one nation, not that holy nation, hear what He says. And
I pray, God, this morning that if you are not believing on Christ. If you are not trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ, that He would right now cause you to be persuaded
in your hearts by the terror of the Lord. Paul said, knowing
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And I am persuading you
this morning, flee to Christ. Vengeance belongs to God. And He will pay. And He will
pay in full. Now, in verses 1-7 of chapter
34, God speaks of a sacrifice in Edomia. Edom, the land of
Esau. Esau and his descendants. His
seed, his children. But it is a declaration, a spiritual
declaration and picture of the final judgment of this world.
Let's read it together. Verse 1. Come near you nations
to hear and hearken you people. Let the earth hear and all that
is therein, the world and all things that come forth of it.
For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His
fury upon all their armies. He hath utterly destroyed them.
He hath delivered them to the slaughter." And when Isaiah delivered
this prophecy, even though the enemies were yet raging against
the Lord's people, the Lord says they're already utterly destroyed. Already utterly destroyed. So
it is right now. He says, verse 3, their slain
also shall be cast out, their stink shall come up out of their
carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
and all the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens
shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall
down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling
fig from the fig tree for my sword shall be bathed in heaven
behold it shall come down upon Edomia and upon the people of
my curse to judgment. Edom Esau, we saw in Hebrews
12, Esau for one morsel of meat despised his birthright. Esau
is like all those who would have the birthright, would have the
privileges of it, who would call themselves by their father's
name, but despise everything that the birthright declares.
I'll be brief on this and we'll look at this in detail more,
but the birthright of the firstborn son has to do with this. The firstborn son, Esau was born
first, in order. And the birthright of the firstborn
son meant you got the blessing of the Father, the anointing
of the Father. Christ Jesus has been anointed
of God. He's the choice, chosen of God
and anointed of the Spirit without measure. The firstborn son became
the high priest, at that time the priest of the family. Christ
Jesus has been delivered into His hand and He is the high priest
of His people. The firstborn son received whatever
judicial authority the father had, that son was given that
authority. All judgment has been given to
the son. All power in heaven and earth which belongs to the
father has been delivered unto the son. He is the king who sits with
his father in the throne. and a double portion, the inheritance,
went to the firstborn Son. Everything that belonged to the
Father was given in double proportion to the firstborn Son. Our faithful
Father, as He promised in the everlasting covenant of grace
with the Son, has given Him all things. He's inherited all things
of the Father and those that He's called. who've been anointed
by the Spirit, who've been made kings and priests unto God by
the Spirit of God, who have been chosen and anointed of the Father,
who have been called out and sought out, have been made joint
heirs with Christ. Everything that's His is ours. Now, for one morsel of meat,
for earthly pleasure, for something of this world, for something
of a temporary gratification, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. And when he did so, he despised
God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and salvation in the Son of God,
Christ Jesus the Lord. And that's what he did. That's
what he did. He said, that's so far off in
the distance. That's so far away. I need some
things now. I need them right now. And I
don't have time to wait for all that. What good is that going
to do me? Give me a bowl of stew. Here, you can have the birthright.
You say, well, that's a lot to give up for a little bowl of
stew. Well, that's a good illustration to us that anything that we're
letting come between us and our God is nothing but a bowl of
beans. It's just lentils. It's red earth. That's all it is. And he says,
I have a sacrifice in Basra. Everybody that's found in that
place, turn to Isaiah 63 verse 1. Isaiah 63, I'm sorry, verse
6. Verse 1, I'm sorry. Isaiah 63,
verse 1. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? Who's this judgment been
given to? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-vat?
I have trodden the wine-press alone. And of the people there
was none with me, for I will tread them in mine anger, and
trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the
day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is
come. You see, those two things go together. the day of vengeance
and the year of my redeemed. Where there's judgment, there's
always mercy. Oh, I looked and there was none
to help, he said. This is Christ Jesus to whom
all judgment's been given. I wondered that there was none
to uphold, therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me,
my fury it upheld me. And I'll tread down the people
in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I'll bring
down their strength to the earth, and I'll mention the loving kindness
of the Lord. and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, the great
goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed
on them according to his mercies, according to the multitude of
his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their Savior,
and all their affliction he was afflicted. and the angel of His
presence saved them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them and He buried them and He carried them all
the days of all." Boy, that's going to be something when He
does that. He's already done it. On Calvary's tree, the judgment
of the wicked and the day of the redeemed has come on Calvary's
tree. He poured out His wrath, and
He bore the affliction that was due to all those God gave Him. And He bore the wrath of God
towards all those God gave Him. And He tread that winepress of
the Lord's fury alone for His people, and He's made His children
righteous. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. And he is that firstborn. He
is that one. This is the purpose of God according
to the election. The purpose, the showbread of
God according to election. The elder serves the younger. Everybody that's found in Adam
will be like Esau. No matter how religious, will
despise Christ Jesus, the one that came after, born after,
the younger, but those who are found in the younger. Those are
the children of promise, saved in this child of promise, the
Son given, the Child born. And all those who are saved according
to promise are the true children of Abraham, and they are the
remnant according to the election of grace, and they shall be saved
from all their sins. Is that you? Is that you? All those who are in Adam, those
who are of Esau's generation, of Esau's descendants, who go
by the name of their father, God the father, but despise everything
about him, who go about seeking this world and all the pleasures
and sin of it. They oppose God, they oppose
his Christ, they oppose his prophets and his people, and they go about
like Esau did trying to kill their brethren. Trying to kill
them. Trying to kill them. Trying to kill the firstborn
and all those born in him. How are we going to be saved
then? Oh, look, verse 6, Isaiah 34,
6, the sword of the Lord. That's how. The gospel of Christ
Jesus our Lord. The sword of the Lord. This is
what divides asunder. This is what is going to separate
the weak from the chaff. This is what's going to separate
those who are the true sons of God from the true sons of Adam. Can you say it so? By the obedience
of one, many were made sinners. Can you say that? Can you say
that because of another, I was born with a nature of sin and
wretchedness and went astray from the womb? Can you say that? Can you say, equally so, by the
righteous obedience of one, Christ Jesus, the last Adam, I've been
made the righteousness of God Can you say that? Can you really
rest there? That's the salvation of God's
children. Resting in Him. Well, but I've got some righteousness. I've got some mighty deeds I've
done. I'm strong in the things that
I've done. I'm strong! Well, here's what
He says to the strong and mighty. They're going to be brought down.
Verse 7. Everything listed here describes
these unicorns. Talk of mighty. The unicorns
shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls.
And their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made
fat with fatness. For it's the day of the Lord's
vengeance and the year of recompenses. Catch this next phrase, for the
controversy of Zion. Isaiah 34, 7 and 8. is the day of the Lord's vengeance
and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. You see, everything that is done
is for the glory of God. Everything that God does. Settle
this in our hearts this morning. Everything God does is to bring
glory to His name. Everything. Everything. And I can rest there. That is
the very heart of submission in faith. Knowing everything
God's doing is for His glory. Everything. That'll make me hear. That'll make me consider. That'll make me close my mouth
and just heed and consider and hide these things away in my
heart. And everything that's contrary to the glory of God
is a controversy against Zion. Settle this in your hearts. Everything,
even the judgment of nations, even the judgment of the wicked
in the day of judgment, is for the citizens, the chosen children
of Zion. Everything. Everything. He says it's all for the cause
of Zion. He'll recompense her enemies
for all the injuries they've done to His bride They'll be
led into captivity just as they led, attempted to lead into captivity. They'll be killed with a sword
just like they tried to kill by a carnal sword. They'll be
separated by a carnal sword, cut off by a carnal sword just
like they tried to circumcise and cut you off and reform you
in the flesh. by a carnal soul. And he says what will become,
what this place of desolation will be like. And I'll be brief
here, but verses 8 through 15 describe metaphors and give metaphors
and symbols of just desolation. Verse 9 says, the streams thereof
shall be turned into pitch, the dust thereof into brimstone,
the land thereof shall become burning pitch. You know, isn't
that just an opposite picture of what we looked at last week
when we looked at how the Lord said for His saints, Behold,
I make all things new, a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness and nothing that defiles. This is what will
be left for those who desire the streams of this earth now.
Who desire the things of this earth now. The streams thereof
shall be turned into pitch. The dust thereof into brimstone.
The land thereof shall become burning pitch. And it shall not
be quenched night or day. The smoke thereof shall go up
forever from generation to generation. It shall lie waste. None shall
pass through it forever. And he goes on to describe all
of these night creatures and these creatures we associate
with darkness and separation is dwelling there. That's what's
going to dwell there. But look at verse 16 and 17.
He says, Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read. Not one
of these shall fail, none shall want her mate. For thy mouth
it hath commanded, his spirit it hath gathered them. He hath
cast a lot for them, his hand hath divided it unto them by
line. They shall possess it forever, from generation to generation
shall they dwell therein. God Elohim says, Our covenant
God says, as surely as I've promised to save my people from their
sins, I've promised and shall bring to pass exact justice and
judgment upon the people who rebel and reject my Son, my salvation. Oh, look at this now. Here's
our blessing. Verse 1. The wilderness and the solitary
place shall be glad for them, and the desert, look at this
now, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall
blossom abundantly and rejoice even with the joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency
of Carmel and Sharon, and they shall see the glory of the Lord
and the excellency of our God. What is this blossom What is
this abundance? What is this rejoicing? What
is this joy in singing? What is this glory of Lebanon
given? What is this excellency of Carmel
in Sharon? What is this glory of the Lord?
What is this excellency of our God that we shall see? What is
it? It begins with a work of grace
in the heart. It's a work of regeneration in
the heart whereby He plants the great cedar of Lebanon in our
heart, Christ Jesus Himself, the glory of God we behold in
the face of Christ Jesus. We behold that this very judgment
God has declared is coming upon all the people in the end, has
been born and put away by the death of His own Son in our place. Does that mean anything? Does
that mean anything to anybody? Awake, son! He says, awake, awake,
awake! Wake up! Lift up the hands that
hang down. Does this mean anything to anybody? Wake up! Listen! This is our
glory. The glory of God is His Son. He's put away judgment for his
people. Is that you? Is that it? Oh, the lame shall leap as a
heart, he said. Are you lame? Are you unable
to do any of this for yourself? Scoff and laugh and say, oh,
that's a bunch of nonsense. It might be for you that this
judgment is then. It might be fixed for you. knowing the terror of the Lord.
We persuade men. How, how much of a fool, how
much of a blind, ignorant, dumb, just base ignoramus does somebody
have to be to choose this desolation just for a little Red earth. Temporary season of peace. Let me put this in just plain
simple terms. Which one do you want more? You
want a game on an iPod? Or you want to use it to open
up and see the glory and grace of God? You want to download the latest
rap tune and walk around and find some peace for your soul
just for a minute? Or do you want to hear this glorious
good news of Christ Jesus the righteous? Do you want to go after the great
honors and glory that men can give you and be like Naaman underneath
all that honorable tire, still be just a loathsome, despicable
leper? Or do you want to come down and wash in the Jordan and come
away clean? What's the sin that so easily
besets unbelief? It's looking to this earth, to
this place that shall be nothing but desolation, to this place
that shall be nothing but an inhabitant of evil creatures, and being turned out of the way
for one little crumb, just for a pleasure of sin for a season. He says, lay away. Lay aside
that weight. Lay it aside. Lift up the hands
that hang down. Those knees that are wobbly,
like a little infant, like a little child that is just learning how
to walk, no matter how feeble, no matter how frail. If you find in yourself a desire,
if you find in yourself a longing, if you find in yourself some
sense, by God's grace, make straight paths to Christ the Lord. Call on Him while He's near.
Call on Him while He may be found. Roll that heavy weight and burden
off your back. and slip into His light and easy
yoke, and find eternal, everlasting, continual rest unto your souls. And you brethren here who believe
the Lord, as Art read there in 1 Thessalonians 4, we're children
of the day. But how we do sleep, how we do
slumber, how we do find ourselves looking to just a little bowl
of lentils. Oh. This is the faith that shall
save us. This is the faith that is the
faith of our faith. This is the faith that is the
strength of our faith. This is the power and wisdom
of the faith that God gives through Him, through Christ, whether
we wake or sleep. That doesn't mean whether we
be unregenerated and live like hell all our days. and never
believe on Christ, profess His name. That is you, believer.
You, believer, though you are awake, regenerated, alive, given
repentance and faith by God, though you often sleep, whether
we wake or sleep, our deliverance is going to be by the faithfulness
of Christ Jesus the righteous, who shall not let us go. Hold on to Him. Hold on to Him
with everything you've got. Hold on to Him with all your
might. But know this, it's His hold on you that's going to save
you. Faithful is He that calls you
who will also do it. He'll separate you, body, soul,
and spirit, and He'll present you to Himself faultless and
without blame because He's the Husband and we're the Bride.
And he says now then, verse 3, strengthen ye the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a filthful
heart, be strong. Where's your strength? It's in
Him. Go to Him. Be strong. How? Glory
in your weakness. How? By casting all your care
into His hands. Be strong. How? Lay it all down
at His feet. Fear not. Behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He's going
to save you from all your enemies. He'll come and He will save you. Amen.