So we're going to Isaiah chapter
18, and we'll read from verse one. Woe to the land shadowing with
wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that sendeth ambassadors
by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying,
go ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people
terrible from their beginning, hitherto, a nation meted out
and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. All
ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye,
when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, and when he
bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the Lord said unto me,
I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling-place
like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the
heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the
bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and take
away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And
the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth
shall winter upon them. In that time shall the present
be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled,
and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto. a nation
meted out and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled,
to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. An aspect of Isaiah's prophecy
that we shouldn't miss or overlook is the international nature of
the message. It's broad, it's wide. Now we said before that it is
not necessary for the nations mentioned in these burdens or
these woes as they are called, actually to hear or read or be
appraised of Isaiah's words. The principal audience was Judah
and then Israel and particularly the Lord's elect. And here we
are as the Lord's people, still almost 3,000 years later, hearing
the very words that Isaiah spoke. When Isaiah writes, woe to the
land shadowing with wings, whatever that phrase might mean, It's
been suggested that it was a land that had a reputation for having
a lot of insects, a lot of flies in it. And that it was, as it
were, shadowed by the wings of these insects. Or it may have
been to do with the fact that they were encompassed by rivers
or mountains. It's not exactly clear what this
reference might mean. But when... Isaiah speaks woe
to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia. It may be that no one in that
country, and I'm going to suggest to you that it was probably the
land of Cush, so-called, no one in that country learned of this
woe. And yet the Lord's people knew
it. and believed it, and by it were
comforted that the Lord was alert to their case and their danger,
and he was zealous for their safety. We can apply this, you and me,
we can apply this to our circumstances today. We worry about what is
going on around about us. And that might be at an international
level or at a national level. It might be economically. It
might be to do with the social trends. It might be to do with
the morality of the people in this world today. We worry about
what is going on around about us. What about this? What about that?
But here the Lord is telling us the whatabouts are covered. This
is an unspecified country. I'm guessing that it was probably
Ethiopia or Sudan that was in Isaiah's mind at this time. Countries of Northern Africa. But maybe anonymity is the whole
point. What Isaiah is saying is that
whatever enemy rises against the Lord's elect, the Lord knows
Judah was to be disciplined by God. But woe to any people that
imagine they might take advantage of the Lord's people as He deals
with their sin and chastens them in love. The Lord deals with his own children
and he tells the world to keep your hands off. If he will use
Assyria as his rod to discipline the children of Israel and discipline
the land of Judah, he will break that rod shortly thereafter. No one touches the apple of God's
eye and lives long to tell the tale. No one glories over the
Lord's people. Fear not, neither be discouraged. Your God, your Father, your loving
Saviour and Deliverer is in control and is committed to His own glory
and your greatest good. I'm going to take today four
pictures from these verses that show how our saviour has his
people's need and care at heart. Let me tell you that again. I'm
going to take four pictures from these verses today that show
us how our saviour has his people's need and care at heart. The first picture is a picture
of God's elect and here they are called a nation scattered
and peeled. The second picture is a picture
of Jesus Christ, the ensign and trumpet. Thirdly, we've got a
picture of patience when the Lord delays his help. And fourthly, we have the picture
of a present, or rather, the present brought to the Lord. That's the title of our sermon
today, A Present Brought to the Lord. So, of these four pictures
then, let us just quickly move through them and see if the Lord
will grant us a little bit of comfort and encouragement from
the pictures of Christ in this 18th chapter of Isaiah. So the first one is this, a picture
of God's elect and as we've mentioned they are called here a nation
scattered and peeled. Now I said before in that little
introduction that I sent out yesterday that there are different
views as to the identity of the nations being spoken of in this
chapter. This nation scattered and peeled,
however, when we spiritualize this passage, it seems clear
to me that it speaks of the Lord's elect. Because it both aptly
describes our present state and perfectly answers the Lord's
promised salvation in verse 7. So we talk about the present
state in verse 1 and 2 and in the state we aspire to in verse
7. There it says, in that time shall
the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered
and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning
hitherto. A nation meted out, chopped up,
divided up, trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled. to the place of the name of the
Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion. And I think that this is speaking
not only of Judah and Israel in the days of Assyria and the
mighty rivers that characterised Assyria, and Babylon and the
force and power with which those armies moved like great rivers
sweeping all before them. But here we're speaking not simply
of Judah but of the Lord's elect, the remnant people. Because this
is surely the sense as we see these things with spiritual eyes
and understand them in the context of Christ's work. The Lord's
elect may indeed be called a nation. A nation because we are sanctified,
set apart from the nations of the world. Here we have no continuing
city. We are separated to the Lord. And we are separated for the
Lord. We are a kingdom dedicated to
the Lord. We are ruled by a king. We are
governed according to his will. We are a nation to whom the Lord
says, I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall
be my people. The Apostle Peter calls us a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Nevertheless, though the elect
of God are a nation, and in Christ a holy nation, It is a nation
scattered and peeled, by which we may understand the Lord's
people to have been scattered amongst all the nations of the
world, sold into the slavery of sin and with a need to be
redeemed to God. A need to be redeemed by Christ's
blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And yet our Lord does not merely
gather a scattered people. He clothes and adorns a peeled
people. A people convicted of uncleanness. A people stripped of their own
self-worth. A people uncovered and naked
before God's sight. yet a people upon whom the Lord
Jesus Christ places a covering of righteousness and acceptance. A people who say with the publican
standing afar off, who would not so much as lift up his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner. This is the nation of the elect
of God, a people who see and recognise their own unworthiness
and nakedness, who see that they have been peeled. scattered and
peeled. Paul says of the elect, not many
wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world, the weak, the base, the despised things
that are nothing in themselves. Truly a scattered and peeled
people. and yet chosen for his own pleasure
and his own glory by God. So here is a nation, the elect
of God, scattered and peeled. And this is our first picture
today. The second picture is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and with Isaiah we return again to
this image, this metaphor of an ensign. An ensign is a flag
that is raised to be seen and to be visible. It might be to
convey an instruction. It might be to celebrate a victory. It may be to rally to a cause. But an ensign is a flag that
is raised for a purpose. And this next picture that Isaiah
gives is of an ensign and a trumpet. and it gives us a picture of
the Lord Jesus himself. We've seen this metaphor used
before in the book of Isaiah. Nor is it the last time that
it will be used. In chapter 11, verse 10, the
prophet wrote, A root of Jesse shall stand for an ensign of
the people. So this was to be from the root
of Jesse, so this is Christ of the tribe of Judah, this is part
of the Davidic legacy that was the Lord Jesus. Remember what
Bartimaeus cried out on the road out of Jericho that day, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. So this is the ensign
from the root of Jesse, Jesse being David's father. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the ensign and his gospel is a trumpet call
to the nations to gather in God's elect. So here is the nation
that is God's elect, though they are scattered and peeled, yet
the ensign is raised. Christ is preached, there is
a message sent out to the nations by the Lord Himself that will gather His people to
Himself. A banner raised up by the Lord
God to gather His people just as Christ was raised up to be
their Saviour, just as Christ was lifted up to draw all men
to himself. The gospel message of substitutionary
atonement, the gospel message of imputed righteousness and
new life in Christ is a silver trumpet sounded in this world
by the Lord, through his apostles, through his preachers, by his
church to call to repentance sinners chosen to salvation within
God's covenant purposes. And I just want to say to you,
As I've said undoubtedly many times before, we may have the
utmost confidence in this gospel message that we declare. We may
be confident that this gospel that we preach is the means by
which God will gather his people. And there are lots of different
ideas and lots of different ways that are presented of communicating
and reaching people. But this is the message. If they
don't preach this word, it will not gather the Lord's people. This is the means, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of impure righteousness,
the gospel of substitutionary atonement, the gospel of man's
need, the gospel of election and grace that brings men and
women to that place of salvation. Isaiah's own generation and those
that followed in the years, the decades, the centuries after
Isaiah delivered this message found hope in the promise of
God's accomplishments. They found comfort in his great
faithfulness to raise up the Messiah Christ. We've spoken
about this lots already in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was giving
this message to his own generation and subsequent generations who
would be pressurised, who would be persecuted, who would be exiled,
who would be sent into foreign countries. so that they would
always have this message to hold on to, that their nation would
not be utterly subsumed and destroyed, but there would be a recovery,
there would be a restoration, and there would be the revelation
of the Messiah, the ensign of the root of Jesse. It was that
view, that vision, that hope, that the elect had faith in all
through these years from Isaiah to the coming of Christ. By faith they found hope and
comfort through 700 years despite siege and starvation and deportation
and exile and slavery and loss. and all the many trials and troubles
and the many tears that were shed, they never lost faith in
the consolation of Israel. And faithful men and women waited
for the coming of Christ, the ensign that was promised and
the trumpet that was foretold. And just like them, brothers
and sisters, we wait upon the Lord. We wait upon the Lord for
fresh manifestations of Christ. We wait upon the Lord for renewed
periods of comfort, despite the trials and the troubles and the
many tears shed during our scattered and peeled experience. Christ
was the object of faith for Isaiah and his hearers. Christ is the
object of faith for us. He will come to comfort. He will send a comforter. He will rise with healing in
his wings for our deliverance and relief. He has said, peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Let us believe and trust him. And this brings us to the third
picture that I have for us today. It is a picture of patience when
the Lord delays his help. And here's a very practical call
for patience from the Lord's elect. Remember what we've been
talking about. Isaiah gave this message so that
the generations following might hold onto it in the midst of
their trials. And they were saying constantly,
I have no doubt, as they were taken to this country, as they
were expelled from that country, as they suffered duress, as they
wept their tears for suffering in a strange land. How long,
Lord? How long until that end sign
is flying, until that trumpet sounds? So here is a picture
of patience when the Lord delays his help. Isaiah tells the people here,
and it's really lovely. He says, and the Lord said unto
me. The Lord said unto me. It is the Lord himself, and that's
Christ that's speaking. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the word that became flesh. So when we read of the word of
the Lord, we're always talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord said unto me, Christ said to Isaiah. The Lord himself
explains to his people why it is he sometimes appears to tarry
in bringing relief. We've got that right here in
these verses. When the Lord says, I will take
my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place, He is saying,
the ensign will be raised. The Messiah
will come. But not yet. There is a time
appointed for the fulfilment of all things. Christ came, says
Paul, when the fullness of time was come. The fullness of time
had to come. There had to be all those intervening
centuries between the promise being given and the fulfilment
of it. And that fullness of time is
the portion of all the Lord's elect whether it is pre-incarnation
of Christ or post-incarnation of Christ, whether it was the
Old Testament or the New Testament people, or indeed the people
of today. There has to be that patience. Galatians 4, verse 4, When the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law. It had to be when the fullness
of time was come. And patience and forbearance. Let's call it what it is, brothers
and sisters. Long-suffering. Long-suffering
is a grace. It is a gift of the Spirit. It is a gift that has to be stirred
up and will be stirred up. No one gets out of this. without
these graces being exercised. And the people of God have always
had to exercise that grace until the fullness of time has come.
And when might that be, Lord? You see, that's the problem. That's the urgency. Because even
although we know this, still we find ourselves saying, how
long, Lord? When might it happen? And the
Lord says, I will take my rest. I will, but Lord, I will take
my rest. But listen, listen. Though the
Lord appears to be taking his rest, he is not asleep. He is
waiting. You see, that's what he says.
In his own heaven, The Lord is considering. He is waiting and
considering. And you say, really Lord? Well,
what are you considering? It seems pretty obvious to me
what needs to happen here. It seems pretty obvious this
problem that needs to be taken away. It seems pretty clear that
this trial has to be lifted. It seems pretty clear that this
thorn in the flesh needs to be removed. What are you considering? fearful saint, pressed child
of God. He is considering you, you. How to nurture you tenderly,
to grow spiritually by this trial that you're facing. how to deepen
your faith, how to enlarge your trust, how to refresh and preserve
you through much tribulation until the time is fulfilled. See what he says to Isaiah, like
a clear heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew in the heat of
harvest. That clear heat upon herbs is
the warmth that encourages growth after a shower of rain. The dew,
the cloud of dew in the heat of harvest is the moisture that
comes when there is a heat around about. You see, the Lord is saying
that he is considering exactly what you need. It may be that
you need clear heat, Or it may be that you need a cloud of dew. Whatever it is, the Lord is considering
your particular personal situation and he is tailoring the events
and the times according to your need. And what does he then go
on to say? Then when the bud is perfect
and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall come
and cut off our tormentor and deliver us from our trouble and
bring us to our reward. This coming of the Lord in due
time will be many fold. When the Lord comes, it will
be many-fold. It will, first of all, be when
a particular trial has served its purpose and run its course
and is taken away. And I know that some of you are
hard-pressed at this time. You're sick, your loved ones
are sick, and you're anxious about the future. Trust the Lord. Brothers and sisters, he's considering
you. He is considering you. Let your prayer be as was David's
prayer in Psalm 40, verse 17. Lord, I am poor and needy, yet
the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. Let me refer you to Psalm 40,
the whole of it, to read and pray over at your leisure in
the circumstances you find yourselves in. The second way in which the
Lord's coming is manifested is this. He's coming to take us
home to glory. And that will soon be your portion. We've been reflecting in recent
weeks as to how our sister Tracy is already experiencing the Lord's
blessing. Soon it'll be your turn. Soon
it'll be you. And then all this trouble will
seem like nothing. And don't worry about what you'll
leave behind because that's the Lord's business. That's what
he's considering right now. He'll take care of it all. because
he doeth all things well. And finally, the fourth little
picture that I want to draw your attention to here is the picture
of the present that is brought to the Lord. Isaiah says, What present is this? We all
know what a present is. We like to get presents, don't
we? It's always nice when we get a present. Sometimes when
we're children, we get lots of presents. As you get older, perhaps
the presents don't come as regularly and as frequently. I'm not sure
what it is that is the charm of children. Anyway, here's the
thing, in that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord
of hosts. What is the present? Well, Isaiah
tells us, the present of the scattered people and the peeled
remnant. The Lord's tried, vexed, stretched,
and trodden down elect shall come to their rest. They shall take up their blessings. They shall be presented to God. And what a presentation that
will be. We shall be presented as a chaste
virgin before Christ. holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. We shall be presented faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Could there be a better prospect
for a weary sinner, for a hurting saint in this world? Could there
be greater encouragement to endure the momentary trials and troubles
and exercise long-suffering to the end? Is there a greater motivation
to hold fast, to stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord? May the Lord our God bless us
with strength to endure and patience to wait for that glorious day
when Christ shall present us to himself, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, no longer scattered
and peeled, but holy and without blemish, perfect in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, it will
soon be, and the timing will be perfect. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us. Amen.