Well, let us, as is our wont,
turn again to God's Word and turn to that portion that we've
just read in Isaiah chapter 26 and drawing your attention in
particular to the words that we find in verses 8 and 9. Isaiah
26, verses 8 and 9, Yea, in the way of thy judgment, O Lord,
have we waited for thee? The desire of our soul is to
thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I
desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will
I seek thee early. When thy judgments are in the
earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
And from these words the theme that I want to take up and address
is that of the way or the purpose of God's judgments. The way,
the purpose of God's judgments. John Berridge says his ways are
just and true. And remember the testimony of
the Psalmist as he addresses God there in the 119th Psalm. Thou art good and thou doest
God is a good God, He is a just God, a kind and a faithful God,
and all His ways are right and equitable. As we read here in
the verse previous to our text, verse 7, the way of the just
is uprightness, though most upright, thus why the path of the just? He's too wise to be mistaken.
He's too good to be unkind in the language of the hymn writer. And so, as we come to consider
these two verses, verses 8 and 9, I divide what I say into two
parts. First of all, to say something
with regards to the judgments of God. And then secondly, to
say something concerning the prayers of his people. These are the two matters that
stand out in the verses. First of all then the judgments
of God and with regards to our understanding of God's judgments.
I mention again two things. First of all, I want to say a
little with regards to the historical context, the situation in which
God first gave this word to his ancient people, the children
of Israel, at the mouth of his servant, the prophet Isaiah. The historical context, and then
secondly, to observe more carefully the spiritual significance of
what is being said concerning God's judgments. We know that
God's Word is not just historical, it is that. It is that. It is full of history, the Bible. But it is more than an historical
book. There is also here that that
we might term the mystery of faith. Does he not deal with
the whole subject matter of what it means to live that life of
faith, of trust in God. When John comes to the end of
his gospel, he reminds his readers, he reminds us as we read that
gospel that these are written, that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have
life through his name. That's the purpose. of his writing
that gospel, that we might believe that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed
the promised one, the Messiah, the Christ of God, the Son of
the living God. And when Paul writes to the Romans
there in chapter 15, remember how he reminds them of the purpose
of what's written in the in the scriptures he's thinking in particular
of the Old Testament whatever things were written aforetime
he says were written for our learning that we through patience
or endurance is the literal meaning of the word that we through endurance
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope so God's words
is not just to be understood in terms of history. It's not
just a matter of studying the Bible. We want to see how God's
Word does bear some relationship to us in our experiences and
in living from day to day. But let me just briefly say something
with regards to the historical context. Remember, the Prophet
is ministering about a hundred years before that terrible catastrophe
that befell the kingdom of Judah. His ministry is principally to
that southern kingdom of Judah. And about a hundred years after
he has ministered, Jerusalem falls and the The temple is destroyed
and the people are taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The great emperor, Ebukenezer,
had come with his forces and laid siege to the city. And it was all in the sovereign
purpose of God. that they were to be taken away,
they were to be removed into captivity because of their sins,
because of their awful idolatrous ways, but there was ever that
remnant. who would be preserved. And Isaiah
does address himself in particular to the remnant. Remember in the
opening chapter he speaks of that remnant, except the Lord
left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been as Sodom
and as Gomorrah. And so see how he addresses that
little remnant at the end of this chapter. Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.
Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed. For behold, the Lord cometh out
of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.
The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain. They would not be there languishing
forever in Babylon, but that great empire would be overthrown
eventually by the Medes and the Persians. We think of Cyrus the
Great, the emperor of Persia, and he was the one, of course,
who issues that decree, as we see in the opening verses of
the Book of Ezra, and the remnant is allowed to return, or they
would be kept, they would be preserved through all those 70
years of exile. They're safe and secure in their
chambers with the doors shut, hiding themselves until the Lord
again comes out of his place and works wondrously to grant
to them a great deliverance. And it's interesting how there
in verse 20 God says to his servant, come my people and then later
in chapter 45 verse 13 Speaking of that man Cyrus, it
says that Cyrus shall build my city and shall let go my captives. My people are my captives. Now
one and the same, and these are the ones, this is the little
remnant that God is preserving in the midst of all the terrible
judgments, the judgments that came upon Jerusalem and Judah
by the Babylonians, judgments that then came upon the Babylonians. at the hand of the Medes and
the Persians. And now these judgments are spoken
of quite explicitly here in our text. We read there at the end
of verse 9 of God's judgments being, In
all the earth, when thy judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants
of the world will learn righteousness, he says. Verse 11, Lord, when
thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see,
and be ashamed for their envy at the people. Yea, the fire
of thine enemies shall devour them. So you can see that the
man, the Prophet, is having to address Bloodthirsty days, really. That is the more general context
in which the words of the chapter are set. But I want us to turn
to the spiritual significance and application. How God's people
are to relate to God's judgments. And God's judgments are abroad
in the earth. He's not speaking of the great
day. that will bring in the consummation of all things, that day that
God has appointed, in which He will judge the world in righteousness
by that man, the Lord Jesus, whom He has raised from the dead.
The Father has committed all judgment into the hands of the
Son. There is a day, an appointed
day, when Christ is to return in power and great glory and
to sit as the judge. But it's not speaking of that
judgment day, it's speaking of judgments in the earth. Now, remember what we were saying
last Lord's Day when we were considering for our text those
words at the end of 1 Peter chapter 4. And there, remember, at the
end we read of judgment. The time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. If it begins first at us, what
will the end be of them that obey not the gospel? And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? And with those words the chapter
is concluded. It speaks of God's judgments
then coming first to the house of God. God's dealings with his
people in the way of judgment during this day of grace. This
is the theme really that I was seeking to address on the last
Lord's Day. And I said that this judgment
is very much part of that trial of faith. We really took for
our text those words previously in verse 12 of 1 Peter chapter
4 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that
is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. It is perplexing, not easy to understand God's
dealings, God's judgments, and yet there is nothing strange
about these things. The trial is part of that revelation
of the sovereignty of God. And in the trial do we not see
at times the absolute sovereignty of God? Another of the prophets
Amos utters those words, Shall there be evil in the city? And
the Lord hath not done it. What a question! Is that evil
in the city? and the Lord hath done it. That's
the implication of what is being said there. Now, God is not the
author of evil, God is not the author of sin, God is of eyes
too pure to behold iniquity, God cannot look upon sin, but
what is being said there, the word that is used, is there not
evil in the city, is speaking of terrible events, calamities. The sort of event I suppose that
we've had much news of recently that occurred in this island,
white island there off the coast of New Zealand. Terrible things.
And all of these things come under the hand of God, His sovereignty. And there's a mystery in all
of these dealings of the Lord. The psalmist says, Thy ways in
the sea, thy path in the deep waters, thy footsteps are not
known. We can't always trace the ways
of God or understand or properly interpret the ways of God. His
works are so sovereign and so strange to us. Look at the language
later. In chapter 28 and verse 21, the
Lord, it says, shall rise up and He goes on to say that He
may do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act,
His strange act. God's works, God's acts are to
us strange, His judgments. How can we explain some of the
awful events that occur in this world, which is of course a fallen
world, a world that lies in wickedness? It may be that when God's dealing,
it may be that He's chastening. Not always necessarily, but sometimes.
These things ought to have a voice. The Lord's voice crieth unto
the city. The man of wisdom shall see thy name, hear the rod, and
who hath appointed it. The language of Micah. Micah
chapter 6 and verse 9. And remember that Micah is a
prophet who was contemporary with Isaiah. They were preaching
at the same time as we see from the opening verses of both the
book of Isaiah and the book of Micah. They're ministering under
the reins of the same king, Zezekiah, that most gracious king amongst
them. And so when Micah utters that
word, the Lord's voice crieth unto the city It's God's voice crying, as it
were, through these judgments that we read of here in our text
tonight. Yea, in the way of thy judgments,
O LORD, have we waited for thee. And then again, at the end of
verse 9, when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants
of the world will learn righteousness. Aren't believers to be moved
by events and by those events moved to to look to God and to
call upon God and see how he goes on to to speak of how we have to come with our
confessions he says in verse 12, Lord thou wilt ordain peace
for us For Thou also hast wrought all our works in us, O Lord our
God. Other lords beside Thee have
had dominion over us, but by Thee only will we make mention
of Thy Name." And we have to pray to God in the face of all
His strange providences, His mysterious dealings. That's what He's saying here
in verse 8, in the way of Thy judgments. have we waited for
Thee, O Lord? The desire of our soul is to
Thy name and to the remembrance of Thee." Now, really, there
is profit in what God is doing, what God is teaching us. He says
there at the end of verse 9 concerning those judgments that in them
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Well that
certainly should be the case with chastening. No chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, says Paul, but grievous
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them that are exercised thereby. There has to be exercise
and self-examination and all that goes with that. when we
seek to understand and interpret the dealings of God with us. If we are a spiritual people
then this is how we will seek to bring God's words and seek
to apply God's word to our situations. But having said something with
regards to these judgments I want in the second place to consider
the prayers of the people of God, because this is the main
emphasis, surely, in this verse. Isn't prayer to be the effect
of God's judgments? When we think of the judgments
and all that's involved in those judgments, as I said, it's God's
absolute sovereignty, it's God's strange providences, it's God's
testing the faith of His people. It might be God chastening His
people. In all of these things, it should
move us to call upon His name and to cry to Him. Now, we see
how this text opens and closes with reference to the judgments
of God. We have the judgments at the
beginning of verse 8, the end of verse 9, but then sandwiched
between, what do we read? We've waited for thee. The desire
of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. With
my soul have I desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit
within me will I seek thee early." What a very core of the text
and speaks to us of prayers. And what prayers they are. This
is true prayer. This is not just words. This is not just vain
repetitions. Look at the language that he
uses. He speaks of the desire of our soul. And then there at
the beginning of verse 9, with my soul have I desired thee in
the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee. This is not just saying prayers. This is prayer that is being
drawn out of the very depths of a man's being that is being
spoken of. It's an expression of his soul.
The Lord says, what is a man profited if he shall go in the
whole world or lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? All this is very much soul prayer. This is those who are greatly
troubled and disturbed, and brought to cry out to God. Think of the
language of Augustine of Hippo long, long ago. Thou hast made
us for thyself. Our souls are restless till they
find their rest in thee. How God deals with us in terms
of our never-dying souls. Even when we think of external
things, events, events surrounding us in our own little lives our
own familiar circumstances all these things have a voice when
we think of national affairs or international affairs everything
in all that God is doing his eye is upon his people they are
as the apple of his eye and we should remember that and be mindful
of that God's judgments then should, of this effect that we're
caused to search our heart and that's good. Examine yourselves
says Paul, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves,
know you're not your own selves, know that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobate. That self-examination is good
but then I often think of those lines in one of the hymns of
Joseph Hart where he says, Pour not on thyself too long, lest
it sink thee lower. Look to Jesus, kind and strong,
mercy joined with power. So ultimately we have to look
away from ourselves and away from our circumstances and we
have to look to the Lord. And that's what we have here
in the end of verse 8 he says the
desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of
thy how important it is that we remember God's name our soul
is to thy name and to remembrance of them, all that that name declares.
Names as we know are so significant in Holy Scripture because names
tell us so much about a man's ministry maybe, a prophet's
ministry part of his ministry time and again is bound up in
the name that he is given and ultimately of course we see the
significance of names when it comes to Christ His name is called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. All we must remember the name,
the name of the Lord God. When we look at Jacob back in
Genesis 32, as the angel is wrestling with him there at Penia, What
is the request that the patriarch makes? He says to the angel,
tell me, I pray thee thy name. All he wants to know, this is
no ordinary angel. Tell me, I pray thee thy name.
This is the angel of the Lord. This is one of those Old Testament
appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that name, how we see it
There, the place is called Penia. And what's the meaning of that
name? It literally means the face of
God. Jacob was aware that he saw, as it were, the face of
God in the angel of the Lord. The Lord Jesus is the image of
the invisible God. And it's not just Jacob, there
are other examples that we have there in the Old Testament. There's
that remarkable incident concerning the parents of Samson, Manoah,
and his wife, recorded in Judges chapter 13, where again the angel
comes and tells Manoah's wife she is going to have this child.
Manoah is not present, he finds it hard to believe what his wife
is telling him, and then the angel appears to Manoah also. Verse 17 of Judges 13, when Noah said
unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? That when they say,
Come to pass, we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? Seeing it is secret. The margin
tells us that the word is literally wonderful. Seeing it is wonderful. Why askest thou after my name?
seeing it is wonderful. Who is this? This is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. Oh, remember how the Lord is
revealed to us by that very name. Think of the language that we
have here in chapter 9 and verse 6, unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. the government shall be upon
his shoulders, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is Wonderful? Oh, the importance of that name! Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And he is such
a complete Savior, and when we come to Him in prayers we are
to come in complete and utter dependence as we call upon His
name. And that's what we see here. Look at the language at the end
of verse 13. By thee only will I make mention
of thy name. Isn't this a confession of utter
dependence upon the Lord. How can we make mention of His
name? How can we plead His name? By
Himself only. Or we are unable really of ourselves
to speak in prayer. He must work in us. And we have
it there at the end of verse 12, Thou also hast wrought all
our works in us. If we pray or write, It's nothing
of ourselves, it's the Lord, it's the grace of God. Oh, we
know not what to pray for as we ought, says the Apostle, but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings. It cannot
be uttered. Indeed, the church of the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, for he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. That's what we want,
that ministry of the Spirit, those those prayers that are
truly indicted by Him. He helps. He helps all our infirmities. How does He help us? Well, when
we come to the very end of Scripture, what is the language of the Spirit?
There in Revelation 22, 17, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. That's how the Spirit helps us
in our prayers. He impresses upon us that great
gospel word, come. Oh, we can come. We can draw
near. And this is what we have at the
end, the word addressed to that remnant. Come, my people. Enter thou into thy chambers.
Shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. What words are
these? He says, come, enter, shut the
door, hide thyself. Here is the place of security. That strong tower of the Lord
that the righteous run into and there they are safe. The name
of the Lord is a strong tower. says the wise man, the righteous
runneth into it, and his is safe. So going to the beginning of
the chapter. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Or we can come,
we can enter. We can approach, we can draw
near with all boldness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. What a chapter! There's
so much in the chapter 2 to encourage us. In all the dealings of the
Lord with us in all His judgments, so that we might be moved to
wait upon Him, to remember His name, to call upon Him in believing
prayers. Yea, in the way of Thy judgments,
O Lord, have we waited for Thee. The desire of our soul is to
Thy name and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I
desired Thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me
will I seek Thee early. For when thy judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
May the Lord bless His word to us and help us as we turn to
Him with our prayers. Now before we come to pray, we're
going to sing God's praise in the hymn 941,
the tune Arizona 284. Jesus, my Lord, my life, my all. Prostrate before thy throne I
fall. Thine would my soul look up to
see. My hope, my heaven, my all in
thee. 941