Isaiah chapter 15, and I'm going
to read 15 and 16, and I'm going to wrestle with all the Moabite
place names that are given to us in this chapter. So be patient,
bear with me as we read together. Isaiah chapter 15 and verse one. The burden of Moab Because in
the night, Ar of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. Because in the night, Kir of
Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. He is gone up to
Bajith and to Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl
over Nebo and over Mediba. on all their heads shall be baldness,
and every beard cut off. In their streets they shall gird
themselves with sackcloth, on the tops of their houses, and
in their streets every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. And Heshbon shall cry, and Eli
Ali, their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz, Therefore the
armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out, his life shall be grievous
unto him. My heart shall cry out for Moab,
his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years
old. For by the mounting up of Luheth,
with weeping shall they go it up. For in the way of Hor-An-Naim,
they shall raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of
Nimrim shall be desolate, For the hay is withered away, the
grass faileth, There is no green thing. Therefore the abundance
they have gotten, And that which they have laid up, Shall they
carry away to the brook of the willows. For the cry is gone
round about the borders of Moab, The howling thereof unto Eglahim,
And the howling thereof unto Birilim, For the waters of Dimon
shall be full of blood, for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions
upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land. Send ye the lamb to the ruler
of the land, from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of
the daughter of Zion. For it shall be that as a wandering
bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be
at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment,
make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday,
hide the outcasts, berate not him that wandereth. Let mine
outcasts dwell with thee, Moab. Be thou a covert to them from
the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end,
the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne
be established, and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle
of David, judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. We have heard of the pride of
Moab. He is very proud, even of his
haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall
not be so. Therefore shall Moab howl for
Moab. Everyone shall howl for the foundations
of Kirhazeth shall ye mourn. Surely they are stricken. For
the fields of Heshbon languisheth, and the vine of Sipma. The lords of the heathen have
broken down the principal plants thereof. They are come even unto
Jazar. They wandered through the wilderness. Her branches are stretched out.
They are gone over the sea. Therefore I will bewail with
the weeping of Jazar, the vine of Sibma. I will water thee with
my tears, O Heshbon and Eliella, for the shouting for thy summer
fruits and for thy harvest is fallen, and gladness is taken
away, and joy out of the plentiful field. And in the vineyards there
shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting. The
treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses. I have made
their vintage shouting to cease. Wherefore my bowels shall sound
like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirhashesh. And it shall come to pass when
it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that it shall
come to his sanctuary to pray, but he shall not prevail. This
is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since
that time. But now the Lord hath spoken,
saying, Within three years is the years of an hireling, and
the glory of Moab shall be contemned. With all that great multitude,
and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. So as I said, we take chapters
15 and 16 together this week as a unit because they contain
Isaiah's burden of Moab. The burden of Moab. Given to Isaiah the prophet to
give to the Lord's remnant people concerning the destruction of
the Moabite nation. And again, see how the prophet
gives this information to comfort and reassure the Lord's people. He is prophesying of what is
to come so that when these events take place, the people of God
will know that it is all in God's plan. God knew, God ordained,
and God forewarned that these things would happen and the people
who trust the Lord would have grounds to believe in the faithfulness
of God. So that when they saw the events
overtaking them of war and famine and captivity and exile and these
things all began to play out in the years and the decades
to come, the mercy of God for his elect would be evident. His knowing mind, his ordering
hand, his appointing purpose would not be forgotten by his
people, but discerned in these events to their comfort and encouragement. so that by these prophecies an
enduring sense of God's sovereign power would persist despite the
apparent chaos and anarchy of the present circumstances. And that's a lesson worth learning
for our own age. and in our own lives because
these things are as true today and significant today as they
were when they were first given. As they proved God's dependability
in times past, they prove it still today to those who have
eyes to see and ears to hear. This is a lesson worth learning
for each of us. The Lord is always in control. And when a loved one dies and
we are sad and we are lonely, we turn our thoughts to the Lord
and we say with the hymn writer, God shall alone the refuge be
and comfort of my mind, too wise to be mistaken he, too good to
be unkind. Or when a child gets ill, and
that child is in distress, and as loving parents we plead for
relief, yet we dare not rail upon God, but we must bow rather
before a wisdom that is higher than ours and a kindness that
is more eager for our good than we can presently understand. When our lives become confused,
when our plans fail, when our ambitions are dashed and we search
for answers and explanations until in the end we kneel before
the sovereign majesty of God and we find comfort in his promises
of care and love and mercy. Knowing that if now we must wait,
hereafter He will make me know and surely I will find. He was too wise to err and, oh,
too good to be unkind. You might wonder why I keep telling
you this. You might think, I understand
this. Maybe, maybe. But we learn and
we repeat and we rehearse these things, these truths, because
someday we shall be called to put into practice the lessons
that we have learned. You may depend upon it. Someday
we shall be called to put into practice the lessons we have
learned. A soldier has to be able to strip
down his firearm and reassemble it blindfold. And there's good
reason for that. Someday he might have to do it
in the dark. And you too and me too, we need
to know how to trust the Lord in the dark, because the devil
will come in our darkest times to tempt us to doubt and to deny
God's wisdom and God's goodness. He'll sow the seed of unbelief
in our heart and mind to try and get us to improperly interpret
the ways and the providences of God. So that Isaiah's message
then and now has a very practical purpose. He tells us these things
beforehand that we might remain faithful when the dark times
come. We're speaking about the Moabites
and that took my mind back, as you will have noticed in the
little introduction that I sent out to you, that took my mind
back to the origin of the Moabites and to the man who is called
Lot, the nephew of Abraham. A few months ago we spent a little
bit of time thinking about Lot with the young people and you'll
remember that there was an experience there in the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah when Lot had to flee for his life. Lot was a just man. The New Testament tells us that.
But in the chaos that followed the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, in the chaos of the loss of his wife and all that
he possessed, his daughters got him drunk and conceived children
by him. The Word of God does not conceal
the failures of God's people, nor the depth of our sin. And we're told in Genesis chapter
19, Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son,
and called his name Moab. The same is the father of the
Moabites. and the younger bear a son and
called his name Benami, the same as the father of the children
of Ammon. Well, the Ammonites, we leave
for another day. It's the Moabites and the burden
of Moab that will take our attention today. Both these nations quickly
fell into idolatry, and both these nations were enemies to
the people of God. And as we think of Lot and the
birth of these boys, we remind ourselves that our sin has cost
and consequence. But praise God, He works even
these to our greater good in his wisdom and his kindness. And lot might have wondered how
is it possible that out of this sin, out of this wickedness,
out of this shame, any good would ever arise. Well, even the Lord's
elect remnant people hundreds of years later were strengthened
by the judgment that came on Moab. and the prophecies of Isaiah. From Lot's disgrace came saving
grace. And the Lord brought a young
girl, Ruth, a daughter of this idolatrous race, to a knowledge
of saving grace and to faith in Christ. and indeed into the
very genealogy of her Lord and Saviour. The Lord is forgiving
to the worst of sinners and graces the worst of sins and sinners
with his mercy. Isaiah's burden tells us that
notwithstanding God's mercy to particular individuals, the wickedness of the nation
of Moab must be judged. And chapter 15 of Isaiah and
the end of chapter 16 anticipates the grievous howling and relentless
weeping of a nation shorn and shaved, baldness and beardless,
signifying its humiliation and its disgrace. We all ought to know that judgment
will come on this world and upon the sin of this world and proud
men and women who disregard the Lord and have no time for the
Lord Jesus Christ will be brought to shame and disgrace and humiliation
and the penalty for sin is hell and separation from God the king
of Babylon that we read about in the previous chapter. He learned what it was to be
cast down to hell. And except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless we find Christ to
be a saviour, unless we find the efficacy of that cleansing
blood We all must perish in hell. But as we have seen, there is
gospel in Isaiah's words as well. And the first five verses, particularly
of chapter 16, I wish to draw your attention to. Here the Prophet
encourages Moab to take heed and to receive counsel and to
act wisely. This is the ministry of the Gospel
in the world today. This is the message that we send
out to the world. This is the purpose. for preaching
the gospel promiscuously to all and any who will hear. And yes,
this gospel message will do your soul the best if you have faith
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is also the very same
message, the means by which the Lord God opens the eyes of His
elect and brings them into newness of life. It is the gospel of
Jesus Christ. It is a message to sinners. And
here we learn that there is gospel in Isaiah's words, and he addresses
these first five verses of chapter 16 to Moab, declaring to them,
take heed, receive counsel, and act wisely. And this is what
we say to men and women still, take heed. receive counsel, act
wisely. There is a heaven to be gained. There is a hell to be shunned.
There is a way of life. There is a judgment coming. And
maybe there is one like Ruth among the people who even now
on the eve of destruction Grace will search out and grace will
deliver. But here, principally, it is
the Lord's remnant that are again directed to look with expectation
for Christ. This message was given to the
Lord's people, the remnant people. and they are hereby informed
of God's saving plan and God's sovereign mercy. And it is particularly
verse 5 that I want to dwell upon today. Isaiah 16 verse 5
says this, In mercy shall the throne be established, and he
shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David. Judging
and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness. The title of our
sermon today is Mercy, Truth and Righteousness. And these
are the three words that I have gleaned from this verse. In mercy shall the throne be
established. He shall sit upon it in truth
in the tabernacle of David. Judging and seeking judgment
and hasting righteousness. And there is no doubt that this
verse is talking about the Messiah, speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ and referring to him, the coming Messiah, that the
remnant people, that the elect amongst the children of Israel
were called upon by God's prophets to look forward to and to place
their trust in, so that it is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
that they were accepted, just as it is faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ by which we are accepted. It is Christ of whom Isaiah has
been speaking. And the remnant elect are being
given details, once again sufficient to trust in Him and His saving
and delivering work. So three things are said here
concerning Christ's throne and His kingdom. Firstly, it shall
bring mercy. Secondly, it shall gather a people. Thirdly, it shall be founded
on justice and righteousness. And there are some lessons for
us all here, I believe. So let us take this first one,
mercy. Christ's throne is established
in mercy. In mercy shall the throne be
established. So when we speak about the throne,
we're speaking about the person who sits on a throne, who's a
king. A king has a kingdom. So here we're speaking about
the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
throne upon which the king sits. That throne, that kingdom, will
be established in mercy. Now throughout the history of
Israel, it was God's mercy that delivered the people. Because
they were a sinful people, they were a rebellious people, they
were a people who did not deserve God's goodness, God's help, God's
provision, but they got it nevertheless. On what grounds was that to be
had? Only. on the grounds of his mercy. So that throughout the history
of Israel, God's mercy delivered the people and for the sake of
God's covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he delivered
his people from Egypt, he brought them over the Red Sea, he led
them through the wilderness, he settled them in the land and
he repeatedly blessed them with judges and prophets and leaders
to the end that his greatest act of mercy the redemption of
his chosen people and salvation by his son would be fulfilled. This is what everything was driving
towards. The coming of the Messiah, his
death upon the cross, the establishment of the kingdom of God and the
gathering in of his people. This is what the history of Israel
was leading to. This tiny nation was preserved
and protected directly by God, despite of all its rebellion
and sin, so that God's plan of mercy would be accomplished. Christ had to come through Judah,
through Israel, because of the promises given to Abraham. so
that mercy is this great characteristic of God's dealings with his people,
and particularly so with his elect, for the elect people can
personalise God's mercy in a most profound way. We do not earn
God's pleasure. We do not deserve His goodness. We have no right to His pity
or to His love and yet in mercy God found a ransom for our souls. He provided a deliverer. He satisfied justice on our behalf. and in such a way as to honour
His holiness and exalt His own glory, He provided a Saviour
for us. This was always God's purpose
and it was bound up in his revelation to Moses when he said to that
prophet, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. God always had a
people. upon whom he determined and set
his affection and his grace and his mercy. The coming of the
Messiah, the child that would be born, the son that would be
given, of which Isaiah had been speaking, of which Isaiah had
prophesied, was the means of God's covenant mercy being successfully
established and his kingdom being formed. And Isaiah repeating this time
after time, repeating it in addressing Moab, is Isaiah's way of again
calling the elect to trust in God, to await his deliverance,
so that these original hearers would live and die long before
Christ actually came, before he was revealed to the world,
but they would have hope and faith in him. Hope and faith
in his victory and in his mercy because Isaiah promised that
Christ's kingdom would be established in mercy. That's point one. Mercy, truth
and righteousness. Here's the second point. Isaiah
tells the elect of his day and he tells all of the Lord's people
in every age and generation that Christ would sit upon his throne
and rule his people in truth in the tabernacle of David. Now this tabernacle, or again,
we're talking about a tent, this tent of David was his palace. It was a pretty impressive tent,
okay? But it was where he stayed. It
was David's palace in Jerusalem. But actually it wasn't. It was
a reference to Jerusalem itself, which is Zion, which is his holy
city. And Zion, the holy city of David,
where David tabernacled, is symbolic of the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Church of God. So that when we're told that
Christ will sit upon his throne, it is a reference to the fact
that Christ is head of his church, that Christ will dwell in the
midst of his people, that Christ will rule in his kingdom, the
kingdom of his people, populated by those for whom he gave his
life and those for whom he died. So truth in reference to Christ
ruling his people or sitting on this throne in truth is a
confirmation of God's faithfulness and a description of the spiritual
nature of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and the righteousness
of his people. Christ's kingdom is a holy kingdom. It is a people of truth. It is
a holy kingdom, pure, sanctified, perfected. Not in themselves by nature,
but made so. by the actual removal of their
sin and their guilt and their condemnation and their evil nature
and its replacement with a sanctified heart, a pure mind, a people
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. This is what it means for Christ
to sit in the tabernacle of David in truth. It is Christ reigning
amid a justified, purified people. And if you say that's not me,
I tell you this, as Isaiah told the elect of his day, it is all
for whom Christ died. It is all that Christ redeemed
by his own blood. It is all for whom he bore our
griefs and carried our sorrows. The king of Babylon, in the previous
chapter, aspired to establish his throne on the mount of the
congregation in the sides of the north. Now, the psalmist
speaks about Mount Zion and the sides of the north. So, the king
of Babylon, he wanted to have his throne In the congregation
in the sides of the north, he raised himself up as an imitator
of Christ. But this Zion, the church of
Jesus Christ, the kingdom and people that belongs to Christ
the King, he will establish and his throne will be amongst his
people. A true people, an honest people. faithful people, a righteous
people. So we have mercy and we have
truth and Christ's kingdom is founded on justice and righteousness. Christ came judging and seeking
judgment and hasting righteousness. So Isaiah here in this fifth
verse of chapter 16, he is speaking to us of Christ the Messiah and
his work. And he restates the spiritual
nature of Christ's kingdom. See, even when the disciples
were speaking about Christ, they were literally on the road to
Jerusalem where the Lord Jesus Christ would die, and they were
arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom. Because they
still thought, right to the very end, that the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ would be a physical national kingdom amongst the
Jews. They did not grasp the spiritual
dimension and nature of that kingdom. The disciples expected
a national kingdom. The Romans actually feared a
natural kingdom. But their view was too narrow,
a view of the kingdom of God. Christ did not come to impose
God's law on an unwilling world, but to fulfill God's law for
an unworthy people. Let me say that again. Christ
did not come to impose God's law on an unwilling world, but
to fulfill God's law for an unworthy people. that He might make us
righteous. He came to do His Father's will
in accordance with the covenant of peace. He hastens to the cross
to lay down His life. He longs to bring His bride to
Him. He wants to embrace her. He wants
to lead her into his Father's home. The Lord Jesus Christ was
eager and enthusiastic to do the will of his Father. We saw
that in our studies in Mark, how that he was eager to go to
Jerusalem. He hastened to the cross. He
willingly bared his soul to the sword of God's justice and he
speedily brought in an everlasting righteousness. for the justification
of his people, for peace and reconciliation with God. The Lord Jesus Christ makes no
demands on the citizens of his kingdom. He requires nothing of us that
he has not already obtained and supplied to us. He obtained our
righteousness. He obtained the very righteousness
of God for us and we are justified by the imputation, by the impartation
of that righteousness to our hearts and souls and lives. We're a different people. We're
a holy people. We're a righteous people. Not
in this flesh. This flesh will always take us
until we get to that moment where like our dear sister Tracy, we
lay it in the grave and we ascend into the presence of our God
with that new body. that holy body, but in our souls,
in our spirits, in our hearts, we are already Christ-like, made
like unto Him, because He has justified us in the presence
of His Father. I don't know, I don't know if
anyone in Moab ever heard Isaiah's burden. I do not know if Isaiah's
advice to the Moabites was ever taken. If the lamb that he said
should be sent, it had been held. It was a tribute that had been
withheld. I don't know if it was ever sent.
Or if there were those amongst the people, the Moabites, who
sheltered and preserved the Lord's wandering remnant and the outcasts,
like he asks and invites in verse 3. But a lamb was sent. A lamb was
sent to the mountain of the daughters of Zion. A shadow was cast for
the outcasts and wanderers of this world by the wings of our
great Saviour who rose for our healing. And all who ever heard,
all who ever read All who read today what this passage says
of the coming Messiah may with an eye of faith and by the leading
of the Holy Spirit discern the Lord Jesus Christ and his spiritual
kingdom and its mercy and its truth and its righteousness in
these verses. May the Lord give us eyes to
see. In a very real sense, Christ's kingdom has come through mercy. The mercy shown to the Jews through
the ages of their history, whether it was by God's own hand or whether
it was by means employed by him like tools and weapons in his
hand. And yet that mercy which ultimately
brought the Lord Jesus Christ into the world by the preservation
of the people of the Jews throughout all this long history, the rise
and falls of the nations, that mercy is only part of the story. Mercy has come personally. Mercy has come particularly. Mercy has come individually to
us all who trust in Christ as our saviour, by God's free grace,
by God's unconditional love and kindness. The Apostle Paul told
Timothy, 1 Timothy 1 verse 13, I was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did
it ignorantly in unbelief. Are you a blasphemer? I am. I have taken God's name in vain. I have impugned his character
I have mocked his ways and his works. Are you a persecutor? I am. I have attacked his people. I have harmed his church. I have
harmed his little ones, the apple of his eye. Are you injurious to Christ? I am. I have sinned against him
and I have drawn his tears. I have caused him to weep and
to sigh and to suffer under the weight of my iniquity. I did it ignorantly in unbelief,
but now Christ is made known to me in the gospel as bringer
of mercy. And today I have obtained that
mercy and experienced God's forgiveness, just as Paul did. And you can
too. Don't ask God for justice. Ask him for mercy. And by the
grace of God, you will have it. Amen. May the Lord bless these
things to us.