Let's turn to the chapter that
we've just read, here in Isaiah 45, and I want to draw your attention
for a while now to the words that we have in verse 8. Isaiah
45, 8. Drop down ye heavens from above,
let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open, and let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.
that I the Lord have created it. It's a remarkable text. I remember some years ago it
was first drawn to my attention. I think I was reading a little
work by that Huntingtonian writer John Rusk and he made some remarks
on this particular verse and it stuck with me at the time
and many a time I've gone back to it. Remarkable words when
we think of the context in which the words are set. The historical
setting, of course, has to do with the restoration of the Jews
after their exile, the 70 years that they were left there in
Babylon. They've been taken captive by
the Babylonians But then, in God's purpose, that great empire
was overthrown by the Medes and Persians, and this man Cyrus,
who was spoken of at the beginning of the chapter, was to be the
man who would issue a decree for the restoration of the Jews. And we have the account there
in the historic book of Ezra. And remember the opening verses
of that particular book because it opens with mention of the
decree that was issued by Cyrus. We read in the first verse then
of chapter 1 in Ezra, now in the first year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be fulfilled, referring to promises that we have in Jeremiah
25 and 29 that that word might be fulfilled we're told the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing
saying thus said Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven
hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged
me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. And so there were those of the
Jews who returned together with Ezra and they began to undertake
the rebuilding of the temple that had been destroyed by the
Babylonians. That then is the context of the
chapter. The chapter seems to be speaking
of Cyrus throughout. In verse 13 God says through
the prophet, I have raised him up in righteousness and will
direct all his ways. He shall build my city and he
shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the
Lord of hosts. But there is surely a greater
than Cyrus to be discerned. This is part of that Old Testament
scripture that was written for our learning. that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope in these last
days, in the Gospel day. And the greater than Cyrus is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And is He not that One who is
really being spoken of here at verse 8? Drop down ye heavens
from above, let the skies pour down righteousness. Or when the Lord descended from
above in that great mystery of godliness, the incarnation. That
was the pouring down of righteousness. Let the earth open, let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. And then when we come to the
end of the chapter, verse 24, Surely shall one say, In the
Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men
come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed
in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall
glory the seed of Israel that's the true Israel the spiritual
Israel of God so I want us to look tonight for a little while
at this righteousness from heaven this righteousness from heaven
that is spoken of here in in verse 8 we know that there is
a wisdom that comes from heaven James tells us if any man lack
wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not and then he goes on to speak of that wisdom from
above which is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and
easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits. Well
as there is a wisdom that has come from above so there is also
a righteousness and this is what is being spoken of here in the
text and two things tonight I want to say something about it is
revealed here upon the earth it comes from heaven but it has
to do with this earth that lies in wickedness revealed on earth
and then secondly to see how it comes with all the refreshings
of the grace of God. First of all then, how here we
see that that God is pleased to accomplish upon the earth
through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. drop down your
heavens this is the place from whence the Lord has come of course
the first man is of the earth earthly says Paul the second
man is the Lord from heaven unto us a child is born unto us a
son is given in the fullness of the time God was pleased to
give his only begotten son and the eternal son is given and
he takes to himself that human nature from his mother the child
that is born of the virgin. Here then we have mentioned in
the verse of both heaven and earth drop down your heavens
from above and let the skies pour down righteousness let the
earth open and let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness
bring up together. Remember the statement that Job
makes in the midst of all the mystery of the Lord's dealings
with him. Now that man's faith was so sorely
tried and tested and though his wife would have him curse God
and die, yet he cannot do such a thing. His friends come but
they are poor comforters to him. and on one occasion he cries
out, neither is there any daisman between us who may lay his hand
upon us both. He looks for a daisman or an
umpire, a person to come between himself and God, someone to stand
between heaven and earth, one that might put his hand upon
us both. Well that is that one who has
come from heaven, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has come
to reveal the righteousness of God and the salvation of God
and we have these two things mentioned together in the verse. The earth is to open and bring
forth salvation and righteousness will spring up together with
that salvation. Directs us then quite clearly
to the work that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished here
upon the earth. I the Lord have created it, it
says at the end of the verse. And again that 13th verse, I
have raised him up in righteousness and will direct all his ways.
Those words ultimately apply to the Lord Jesus when we think
of the life of Christ. There is the obedience of that
life that he lived, and then there is also that great oblation
that the Lord makes at the end of his life when he comes to
die. These are the two aspects of the work that is being spoken
of, the obedience of the life. how he comes as one who is very
much subject to the law of God. He is made of a woman, yes, he
is the son of Mary with regards to his human nature, but he is
also one who is under the law of God. We're familiar with those
words in Galatians 4, when the fullness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. And it was to this end, of course,
that the body was prepared. It's spoken of prophetically
in the 40th Psalm. But there, writing in Hebrews
chapter 10, doesn't Paul make it plain? that the words of the
psalmist are fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus. It speaks of the Lord having
a shadow of good things to come, but not the very image of the
things. It is type and shadow that we
have in the Old Testament, but the body is of Christ. And so
we read here in Hebrews 10.5, Wherefore when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will Oh God,
he comes to do the will of God, he comes to do the work of God. The body is prepared, that human
nature in which he appears, prepared in order that he might execute
all that work. I came down from heaven, he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him who has sent
me. He must be about his father's
business. He must accomplish all that work that the Father
has given him to do. And what is it? It is righteousness. It's that righteousness that
God demands of his creatures. And it's an active righteousness.
There at the end of Deuteronomy 6 we're told quite plainly, it
shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these things
before the Lord our God that he has commanded us that is what
God requires an active righteousness the observing and the doing of
all those commandments that law which is holy those commandments
which are holy and just and good and man since Adam fell cannot
do the works of the law man in his very nature is dead in trespasses
and in sins but Christ has come to honour that law, to magnify
that law and Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth or there is that aspect then of
the work that Christ came to do the obedience of that sinless
life, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens. What does it say here then in
the text? Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus. But that is but one part of the work that Christ has come
down from heaven to accomplish. Being found in fashion as a man,
we're told, he became obedient, but obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. So besides the obedience of living,
there is also the sacrifice, the oblation. that he makes at
the end of his life Paul says Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written
curses everyone that hangeth on a tree all the curse of the
law curses everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them all things must be done every
commandment must be obeyed If a man keeps a whole law and yet
offends him one point, James says he is guilty of all. And
there is not a just man upon the earth who doeth good and
sinneth not. And so this is that vital part
of the work that the Lord has come to accomplish, to bring
forth salvation, to save those who are the transgressors of
that law of God. He was made of a woman, He was
made under the law to redeem, to redeem them that were under
the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. What has
God done then in the person of His only begotten Son? He has
made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. These are the great truths,
of course, of the Gospel, and that's what's being spoken of
here in the text. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. How He has magnified it. How
He has satisfied it. Satisfied divine justice. paid
the ransom price that the law demanded. Oh, the law is good. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The fault is with those who are the transgressors. But
the law must be satisfied. It's a revelation of God, of
the righteousness of God and the justice of God. And the law
says the soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is
death. And Christ has come and paid
that price. He has died. He has made that
one sacrifice for sins forever. This is what is to be declared. This is the message that is to
be told forth. Verse 21 tells you and bring
them near. Yea, let them take counsel together
who have declared this from ancient times, who have told it from
that time. Have not I the Lord? There is
no God else beside me, but just God and the Saviour. There is
none beside me. This is what is to be told forth,
to be declared, that there is no God. but this
one God, a just God and a Saviour, and we see it all in that revelation
that has come in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul writes in his epistle
to the Romans, that epistle that is so full of gospel, The great
gospel book, of course, the epistle to the Romans, setting before
us the great truth of the doctrine of justification by faith. What
does Paul say? Romans 3.26, to declare, I say,
at this time is righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. This is the heaven's
end. Pouring down righteousness, and
the earth opening and receiving these things that wondrous work
of Christ and we have it time and again in the language of
the book of Psalms Psalm 89 and verse 14 justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne mercy and truth shall go before
thy face again in Psalm 85 mercy and truth are met together Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. What do we see in Christ? We see the harmonizing of all
the glorious attributes of God. Oh, we see God as a holy, a righteous,
a just God, but also a merciful, a loving, a gracious God. All
harmonizing. The wondrous revelation that
we see then in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness
revealed here in a sinful world. And then, in the second place,
in the second place, how it refreshes the earth, how it refreshes the
earth. This is the imagery that we have
The heavens dropping down from above reminds us of the refreshment
that comes by means of the rain after a period of drought. We have it of course in Deuteronomy
32 too, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall
distill as the dew. as the small rain upon the tender
herb and the showers upon the grass that's the same imagery
there as we find here and it is given you see this doctrine
to refresh or to refresh the poor sinner burdened with his
sin in such need look at what we have previously in chapter
44 Verse 3, I will pour water upon
him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour
my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.
Here is that message then that comes to bring such refreshings
into the souls of those who have known something of the conviction
of their sins, a sense of their great need before God. Now we
see it being preached in the New Testament, in the ministry
of the apostles. There in Acts 3.19, Repent ye
therefore, and be converted when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord. All the times of refreshing,
that's the gospel. That is the gospel. And what
is this doctrine that is dropping down from heaven? Well I referred
to those words already in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy there
in Deuteronomy 32 too. But then see how Moses continued
to explain what this is. He says, My doctrine shall drop
as the rain, my speech I distill as the dew, as the small rain
upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass, because
I will publish the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto
our God, He is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His
ways are judgment. The God of truth and without
iniquity, just and right is Him." What is the doctrine? It's this
doctrine of God, he's proclaiming the name of the Lord, the Covenant
God as we have it there. And that God who ultimately has
revealed himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what in particular do we see in our text? It's that doctrine
of Christ's imputed righteousness. It's Christ's imputed righteousness,
being justified. By faith we have peace with God.
Oh, it's that righteousness reckoned to the account of the sinner. And we have it time and again
here in this remarkable prophecy of Isaiah. Is Romans full of
gospel? Well, in the Old Testament surely
Isaiah is also full of gospel. What do we read? There in chapter
61 Verse 10, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels. And there we see God doing this
from the very beginning. No sooner do Adam and Eve transgress,
disobey the commandment of God, fall into sin. But there in Genesis
chapter 3, we see God making the provision for them. Genesis
3.21, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord make coats
of skin and clothed them. Oh, it takes animal, and animal
is sacrifice. And the skin of that sacrificed creature is
made a covering for Adam and Eve. It's righteousness. He speaks of that righteousness
that is imputed to the sinner, the righteousness of Christ.
What is the Lord's name? Well, there are many names that
are given to Christ in the Scriptures. You're aware of that, I'm sure.
But we're told There in Jeremiah 23.6, this is the name whereby
he shall be called, the Lord's, our righteousness. And then, just a few chapters
later, Jeremiah 33.16, this is the name whereby she shall be
called, the Lord's, our righteousness. It's his name, it's her name. It's the name of Christ who is
the bridegroom. It's the name of the church which
is his bride. To her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. And the fine linen
is the righteousness of saints. Oh, it's that righteousness of
Christ that is imputed and that's being spoken of here. that that
the Lord himself created by that obedient life and that great
sin atoning sacrifice. Remember how in Bunyan's Grace
of Bounding there's an incident if I remember right when he was
beset by doubts and fears and one day as he walks into the
open fields he looks up into heaven and I suppose in a sense
this text we might say dropped down into his heart because Bunyan
says he realized there and then that his righteousness was actually
in heaven he had a righteousness there in the very presence of
God by his union with the Lord Jesus Christ he was able to sit
together in those heavenly places in Christ it was an eternal righteousness
And it's that righteousness, of course, that is applied by
the blessed Spirit of God. How the sinner, when he's born
again, is he not born from above? Remember there in John 3, if
you look at the margin, it tells us quite plainly that the expression,
born again, literally means to be born from above. It's the
work of the Spirit. And when the sinner is born again of that
blessed spirit of God, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. He cannot sin. Because the seed of God abides
in him. It's that new nature that never
sins. That new nature never sins. Yes, there's an old nature, there's
a conflict. But how These two things come
together time and again. There's justification, there's
the imputing of the righteousness of Christ, but there's also that
new nature, and there's sanctification. And we see it in the language
of the 45th Psalm, that speaks of the bride of Christ, the king's
daughter, Psalm 45, 13, the king's daughter, it says, is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the
king in raiment of needlework. Oh, there's a glory within, but
there's also that on the outside. The sinner is justified. And
the sinner is sanctified. What a precious truth is this
doctrine of justification. This is what we really see in
the text. We sometimes sing the words of Joseph Hart in the hymn
270. Righteousness within thee rooted
may appear to take thy part, but let righteousness imputed
be the breastplates of thy heart. Oh, it's that righteousness.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God, says David. I will
make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. My tongue
also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. And as it was
with David, so it was with Paul. His determination, as he speaks
of it there in Philippians chapter 3, to be found in Christ, he
says, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness which
is of God by faith. Oh, it's all in Christ. All the
righteousness, be it that righteousness that's in Puget, or that righteousness,
that holiness that is imparted in the great work of regeneration
and sanctification. of Him, i.e., in Christ Jesus,
who have God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption. For as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord's. Oh, the heavens then,
they drop down, the skies pour down righteousness. Lord, that
our hearts might be opened, that we might receive these things,
and that salvation might be brought forth, and righteousness spring
up in our hearts, and that we might know that all the glory
must go only to the Lord himself. I, the Lord, have created it,
he says. O God, grant him that we might
in some measure know the refreshings that do come to us from the presence
of the Lord and those refreshings that come by this doctrine of
the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and in His work. May the Lord bless His word tonight. We're going to sing for our second
hymn number 29 and the tune is 724 I'll read the first two verses
and we'll sing from verse three. Descend from heaven celestial
dove, with flames of pure seraphic love, our ravished breast inspire
fountain of joy, bless paraclete, warm our cold heart with heavenly
heat, and set our souls on fire. Breathe on These bones, so dry
and dead, thy sweetest, softest influence shed in all our hearts
abroad, point out the place where grace abounds, direct us to the
bleeding wounds of our incarnate God. Number 29 from verse 3.