The book of Isaiah, chapter 24,
and we're going to read from verse 1. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth
empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth
abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the people,
so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master,
as with the maid, so with her mistress, as with the buyer,
so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower,
as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied.
and utterly spoiled, for the Lord hath spoken this word. The
earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth
away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth
also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured
the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore
the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine
languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets
ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the
harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with
a song. Strong drink shall be bitter
to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken
down. Every house is shut up that no
man may come in. There is a crying for wine in
the streets. All joy is darkened and mirth,
the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation
and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall
be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as
the shaking of an olive tree and as the gleaning grapes when
the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice,
they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud
from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord
in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the
isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the
earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I
said, my leanness, my leanness, woe unto me, the treacherous
dealers have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous dealers
have dealt very treacherously. Fear and the pit and the snare
are upon thee, O inhabitants of the earth. and it shall come
to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall
into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit
shall be taken in the snare. For the windows from on high
are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth
is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth
is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro
like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the
transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall
and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones
that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
and they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in
the pit and shall be shut up in the prison and after many
days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded
and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously. Amen. For that reading of a rather
apocalyptic passage May the Lord bless it to us. Do you ever think to yourself,
it feels like the world is turned upside down? If you do, you're not the first
person to feel like that. Alan Jellett, who preaches the
gospel, he makes a little point in his book, The Kingdom of God
Triumphant, that God keeps this world in confusion to protect
his remnant church. That the confusion that there
is in this world is God's way of hiding his remnant people
in the wilderness of these end times. I think that's a very
potent idea. And if this is true, then we
should not worry about the confusion that abounds around us. In fact, rather than being our
enemy, The confusion in this world is our friend and it serves
God's purpose to preserve his people from their enemies. Or maybe a loved one has died
and it feels as if our world is turned upside down. Or maybe
we've been given some bad news and it feels like your world
is turned upside down. Perhaps you're confused about
what is happening today. Perhaps when we compare what
is happening today with the world in times past, we feel as if
the world is turned upside down because there was a certain stability
then which has been lost today. I want us to learn a lesson from
this chapter. As believers we are not immune
from the trouble in this world. Now remember what we've been
learning in Isaiah. Isaiah was telling the people
of his time and the generations following about what the Lord
was going to do to various empires, to various nations, to various
cities, so that When these things happened, even to Israel and
Judah and Jerusalem itself, when these troubles came, the people
would know, the people of faith would know that the Lord was
still in control. They would go through the trials. They would experience the problems. They would see their friends
slain. They would see their children
taken from them. They would see these mighty nations
crumbling and falling. And even in the midst of their
trials and their hardships, they would have this residual thought,
this is the Lord's hand at work. This is God's doing. My God is
still in control. And we can enlarge that. We all have crosses to bear. When this world is turned upside
down, we are not completely protected from it. We have trials to endure. And some of those trials are
very bitter experiences. And if you haven't endured them
yet, you may be sure that you will in the days to come. Long
days, hard days, painful days, wearying days. Days that we wish
would come to an end. However, Christ's church will
persevere. It will proceed and it will even
prosper when this earth is turned upside down. Because God will
always preserve a remnant people. And we may be sure that no matter
what is happening in this confused, conflicted, topsy-turvy world,
God's purpose will be accomplished. His purpose will not fail and
the gospel will not fall silent. He will preserve a remnant to
preach and testify to the truth right to the very end of the
world. So that this little phrase, the
earth turned upside down incorporates for Isaiah two distinct aspects
of the divine character. The holiness of God and the power
of God because it speaks of judgment and it speaks of destruction. It conveys the idea of God's
sovereignty. It is He who turns the earth
upside down. Let's not imagine that God is
overtaken by events or God is getting swamped by the wickedness
of this world and that everybody's doing that which is right in
their own eyes and therefore God is having trouble just holding
it all together. That is so wrong. That is so
far from the truth. It is God who turns this world
upside down. That's what Isaiah is telling
us. And that turning of the world
upside down is the legitimate response of God's purity. He does it because of sin. It
is a description of the power and of just judgment. The whole
world lies before God in rebellion and God's law and God's righteousness
demands retribution. Isaiah has been speaking about
the overthrow of nations of Assyria and Babylon and Tyre and the
various nations and cities. And his purpose, as we've said,
has been to reassure the Lord's people who'll see and experience
these dramatic events, that even although the world seems chaotic,
anarchic, confusing, nevertheless the Lord is still on his throne. and the overthrow of dynasties,
the overthrow of empires serves his purpose. You know, we've
been reading about Assyria and Babylon. We could read the Soviet
Union. We could read the United States. We could read the Western world.
It doesn't matter what befalls this world in the turning of
it upside down. God is in control. And in the
generations following the days of Isaiah and in the generation
which is today's generation, God's elect would say one to
another, these are troubled times. The times and the troubles that
Isaiah spoke of and warned us about are upon us. But do not be afraid, the Lord
is still on his throne. Psalm 11, verse 4, David says,
So I'm going to bring a lesson from this passage today as the
Lord enables And the lesson is, I'm going
to look at the fact of sin, I'm going to look at the blessing
of grace, I'm going to look at our trials in this life, and
I'm going to think briefly about the visits of the Lord. So let's
get moving on. The fact of sin is taught to
us here in this chapter by Isaiah. He teaches us that sin is the
universal problem of mankind. Verse 5 tells us, the earth is
defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they've transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting covenant. Every man, woman, boy and girl
is possessed of an evil nature to do evil things. We've all
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and Isaiah tells
us that the original cause of sin is the curse. He speaks about
the curse in verse 6. This is the curse Adam brought
on humanity by his rebellion in the garden. Romans 5 verse
12 tells us, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned. Furthermore, divine judgment
against sin is the righteous response of holiness. the right and proper response
to willful disobedience and evil working is for God to stamp it
out, to condemn its perpetrators and to assert his authority over
the rebels. It's just right that God does
that. And what we learn from Isaiah
is that God does that in time and in eternity. Yes, there is
a hell coming when in eternity God will punish and judge the
rebels of this world. But Isaiah is telling us too
that that judgment occurs in time. This is the turning of
the world upside down. There will be an eternal separation
and punishment in hell that will perfectly suit those who hate
God and want nothing to do with him. Though I would not wish
it upon any to go to that place of suffering and terror. But Isaiah is telling us that
God punishes wickedness in time too. Whether it's in Assyria
and Babylon or wherever it might be. Wicked people and nations
have a measure of iniquity to fill up in this world, a measure
that is known to God alone. There are consequences to sin.
Some fill that measure up more quickly than others, for some
it takes a longer time. And during this time, it appears
that God waits patiently and bears with that sin. He doesn't
judge it in the instant. He doesn't judge it in the moment.
But when that sin is filled up, He withholds no longer. And the
vengeance of God pours out in this world and He turns it upside
down. Paul says in Galatians chapter
6 verse 7, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. That's not only in eternity,
that is in time as well. We've said before, of course,
that this is not a judgment for God's elect. It is a judgment
upon sin. The Lord's people suffer as a
consequence of that judgment. We bear the marks in our flesh. We experience the hardship. but
that is rather the goodness of God to draw us to himself and
a mark of his distinguishing love upon us. I know that can
seem like a difficult contrast to make, but it is nevertheless
the truth. Whom the Lord loves he chasteneth. This is not judgment upon the
church, this turning of the world upside down. but we feel the
effects of it and the effects of it have the purpose of leading
us closer to Christ. William Cooper, the hymn writer
and the poet says, ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds ye so much dread are
big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. It is this judgment in time,
therefore, that Isaiah is speaking of here. When suffering comes
for sin, when death reaps its reward on the people and the
priest without respect of persons, rich and poor, high, low, humble,
proud, they're all brought down to the same level under the judgment
of God. When Babylon fell, the masters
and the servants perished together. When Tyre fell, borrowers and
lenders were as one. When the appointed time comes,
no one can delay or postpone the wages of sin and the vengeance
of the curse of the law. And except for the intervention
of God, the scriptures are clear, the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Outside of Christ, men and women
are simply waiting for the inevitable day of their death. And as the
Lord said concerning the rich man, Then whose will these things
be? Men and women work and aspire
all their lives to pleasures and passions and experiences. And in the end, old and frail,
they stumble down to death. And the wages of sin is death. But Isaiah teaches us something
else. He teaches us that God has intervened
and has provided a way of escape and a means of salvation. Paul
told the Galatians in chapter 3, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. And this brings
us to our second point, which is the blessing of grace. Isaiah tells his readers that
despite the wasting of all flesh and the far-reaching desolation
of the earth, even in the worst of times, there is a remnant
according to the election of grace, whose persons the Lord
knows, and whose safety and whose well-being the Lord keeps and
manages. Now I know it's poetic language
but that's exactly what Isaiah is saying when he calls these
people the shaking of an olive tree and as the gleaning grapes
when the vintage is done. Okay, maybe you don't like being
compared to an olive, maybe you don't like being compared to
a grape, but if you are one of the Lord's people, that's exactly
what Isaiah is saying here. Just the shaking of an olive
tree, just a few olives that are left. when the harvest has
been taken. Just the gleaning grapes, so
that when the grapes had all been gathered, if you had walked
along where those vineyards were, you would find that there were
one or two that had been missed. And those could be gleaned by
the poor people. He's talking about the remnant.
He's talking about the elect and the earth. the Lord's little
flock. And the idea is that when those
olives in the harvest were gathered in, the few would be left, and
a few grapes also in the vines. God's remnant people whom he
has chosen, whom he has redeemed, whom he delivered and preserves. Christ's Bride, whose care and
chastity our Saviour is charged to keep. He has sanctified us
in this world. He has sanctified us to himself,
kept us apart. He has redeemed us at the cross. He has cleansed us with his blood.
He has covered us with his righteousness. He converts us with his Gospel. He comforts us with his Holy
Spirit. and he opens the gate of heaven
and he welcomes us in, that we might surely and certainly enter
that place which he has prepared for us. Christ is all our joy
and all our praise. So verse 14 says, they shall
lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord,
they shall cry aloud from the sea. In the midst of that tumultuous
sea, in the midst of the waves and the billows and the winds
and the storms, what happens? The grapes. The olives. they sing for the majesty of
the Lord. Despite the wickedness of sin
in the world, despite the promise of judgment, the Lord will not
forget his people or fail to preserve them through the trials
that must afflict this earth and all who dwell in it. And
that leads us to our third point. What is it like to live through
that process? the Lord's people will experience
the troubles of this life. For the redeemed people, it will
not be easy. On the contrary, the Lord's elect
live amongst the most dire judgements and they see and they taste and
they feel all the damage that is caused by sin. but it's distinguished
from the fact that it is not judgment, it is a positive, constructive
chastisement granted to those whom the Lord loves for good
reasons. For the Lord, it's not divine
judgment, it's not punishment, but it can be a bitter trial. Why is it necessary for us then
Because our bodies are corrupt. Because our flesh is dying. Because our mind is confused. Because our ambitions are misplaced. Everything about us is touched
and tainted by sin. Except our newly created spirit. Our spirit is pure, perfect,
holy and sinless. And our bodies must die and be
buried and raised again anew. They must be raised spiritual
bodies, that is, sinless like our souls. And until that time,
we will continue to feel the effect of sin in this world. And that continuation of that
feeling of sin in this world is what Isaiah is referring to
when he laments and cries out, my leanness, my leanness, woe
unto me. And I know, listen, I have heard
some of you this week, this week, telling me, those very same words
from Isaiah, my leanness, my leanness, woe unto me. And I am thankful for passages
like this in the scriptures, portions that show us the heartfelt
reactions of the Lord's people in this sinful world. Isaiah
knew leanness of soul because he saw the sin in his own nature
and he saw the repercussions of sin in his own nature. He
felt the burden in his own flesh. He understood the judgment that
must fall upon the wicked and our utter dependence on God's
grace to see us through it. And so when Isaiah speaks about
the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, he's speaking
about his own nature. He is speaking about the fact
that there's a will to do but within himself he cannot find
the power to do it. Sin, will, out. It's like painting over rust. Sin can't be hid for very long,
and the wickedness of this world will receive its reward. And
insofar as we are in this world, God's judgment that turns the
world upside down distresses our souls, distresses the souls
of God's elect as well. And yet we are preserved through
it to the praise of Christ. And now, Finally, Isaiah shows
us where our only true comfort and consolation is to be found
in this life. He speaks about a visit from
our glorious Saviour. And I interpret verse 23 as a
gospel promise that Isaiah was blessed to see. This is the elect
that is being spoken about at the end of this chapter. Everything
in this earth must bear the consequences of sin. Our body, our mind, our
emotions. But God's people have already
been crucified with Christ so no evil can touch our soul and
no harm will come to our spirit which is a new and perfect creation
separate from sin. Trusting our sovereign God is
our greatest comfort. We have a loving Father, we have
a suitable Saviour and we have a comforting Spirit who unitedly
delight to do us good. The greatest delight a believer
can have in a period of leanness is a visit from the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is what Isaiah is describing
here. What is that pit into which we
have fallen? Is it a pit of sin? Christ alone
can enter that pit, break its bonds and deliver us as redeemed
captives, having paid our debt and set us free. Maybe it's a pit of regret for
opportunities lost, for paths walked that ought never to have
been walked, for things done that ought never to have been
done. Let me just say this. Our kind
and merciful Saviour has brought you to this point in life by
the way that you have gone. in order to make you trust him
more and lead you into all truth. None of us can look back on life
without a sense of regret and guilt and conviction for sin. And yet the gospel tells us that
all our sin, all our guilt, all our condemnation has been put
away. It is imputed to, it is attributed
to, it is laid upon our Saviour and it is carried far, far away. As far as the east is from the
west, the Lord has taken your sin and your condemnation. Brothers and sisters, your very
guilt was laid on Him. Is there a pit of despair? No
matter how dark the valley we have to walk in, Christ will
be our light and Christ will be our guide. Rest in Him. Do you feel leanness in your
soul? Do you lack anything? Ask and
it shall be given. Seek and ye will find. Knock
and the door will be opened unto you. What a blessed hour when Jesus
comes knocking to visit his people with tender love, with gentle
caresses, with embraces to comfort us and with kisses to thrill
our hearts. Is it a pit of doubt? Is it a
pit of fear? cast your cares upon him, for
he careth for you. Soon the Lord will visit us with
his visit of translation into glory. And when that moment comes,
we will not look back with longing on this world. We shall be glad
to see it gone and we shall be happy to be with him. So let
us all ask the Lord to visit us in our leanness, in our need
and in our trouble. This man Isaiah was commissioned
to comfort God's remnant people. We are that remnant and we need
encouragement. God has supplied that encouragement
in these verses. They are just as surely for you
and me as for every generation that ever read them. hard-pressed
believers that they were in their own day. Let us be like Paul,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.