So we're in Isaiah chapter three
and we're reading from verse one. For behold the Lord, the Lord
of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the
stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay
of water. The mighty man and the man of
war, the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the ancient,
the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor,
and the cunning artisopher, and the eloquent orator. And I will
give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed,
every one by another, and every one by his neighbour. The child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the
base against the honourable. When a man shall take hold of
his brother, of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast
clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy
hand. In that day shall he swear, saying,
I will not be an healer, for in my house is neither bread
nor clothing. Make me not a ruler of the people.
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their
tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes
of his glory. The show of their countenance
doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom,
they hide it not. Woe unto their soul, for they
have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their
doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are
their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they
which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy
paths. The Lord standeth up to plead,
and standeth to judge the people. the Lord will enter into judgment
with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof. For
ye have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your
houses. What mean ye that ye beat my
people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the
Lord God of hosts? Moreover the Lord saith, because
the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth
necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making
a tinkling with their feet. Therefore the Lord will smite
with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will discover their secret parts. In that day the
Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about
their feet, and their cauls and their round tyres like the moon,
the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers, the bonnets
and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands and the tablets
and the earrings, the rings and nose jewels, the changeable suit
of apparel and the mantles, and the wimples and the crisping
pins, the glasses and the fine linen, and the hoods and the
veils. and it shall come to pass that
instead of sweet smell there shall be stink, and instead of
a girdle a rent, and instead of well-set hair baldness, and
instead of a stomacher a girdling of sackcloth, and burning instead
of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword,
and thy mighty in the war, and her gates shall lament and mourn,
and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground. Amen. May the Lord bless to us, once
again, a rather sombre and solemn portion from the word of God. It is surely true that the events
spoken of in this prophetic passage had their express fulfilment
at some stage in the history of Judah. John Gill, the commentator,
suggests that many of the judgments mentioned here in this passage
point to the destruction of Jerusalem at the time of the Romans, when
the city was laid waste and the Jewish state was brought to an
end. However, there is an ongoing
and enduring relevance in God's Word for every generation, because
it is the living Word of God. And these events may have occurred
a long, long time ago, and yet the Apostle Paul tells us in
2 Timothy that all scripture Including these writings, in
fact it was these writings that he was talking about, the Old
Testament scriptures primarily at the time that he wrote this.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. He's telling us that these Old
Testament prophecies are as relevant to God's people now as they were
for the people to whom they were first given and those who witnessed
the events to which these prophecies pointed actually taking place. The specific sins that offended
God here in this chapter and the practices that he condemned
and the judgments that were sent from God show the kinds of measures
and sanctions that God employs to humble the proud, to confound
the self-satisfied and to punish evildoers. And it is true that
there is a day of judgment coming that still lies in the future
when hell will open wide its mouth to receive all those who
are cast out from the presence of God and the judgment throne
of God. Hell will be their portion and
separation for eternity. But it is also true, notwithstanding
the judgment of hell that is to come, that there are troubles
sent from God in time and calamities of judgment visited upon the
wicked in this world as well. Now we've already remarked with
some of the younger people earlier that there are troubles come
upon the Lord's people and they have a design, they have a purpose
to cause us to lean more and love more the Lord our Saviour. But the same problems that draw
us closer to Christ come upon the wicked as judgments and condemnations. Now it may well be that a particular
evil act may not have a particular attributable judgment brought
against it, like a cause and effect. But let us not be deceived,
God's eyes are directed upon the particular sins of this world. They're not closed to injustice
or oppression. All they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. There is an accountability that
falls upon the men and women of this world. Jeremiah questioned
why the way of the wicked was not punished on that they often
seemed to prosper. He asked the Lord directly, wherefore
doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy
that deal very treacherously? But let us make no mistake. Sin
reaps its reward and justice will not be denied. There is
a great assize coming. There is a day of accountability
coming. But there are also, day by day,
the consequences of evil dispensed by God. So we therefore, even
today, leaning upon this passage and other passages like it, may
learn how the dispute God had with the Jews of long ago repeats
itself through the ages of this world. Such that recurring patterns
of sin bring recurring patterns of judgment. Now, it's not my
intention to spend too much time reflecting on the judgments. Judgment is God's business. And we have matters of grace
and goodness and hope and everlasting life to talk about today. But
I will say this. I do not think that we could
have a more up-to-date description of the deep-rooted malaise that
afflicts our Western societies today than these sanctions described
by Isaiah 700 years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It does seem as though the Lord has again stripped away many
of the assets and privileges described here in these verses
as being removed from Judah by an act of the Lord's condemnation. And also it seems as though our
societies have been afflicted by many of the same scourges
listed here in this passage. For example, to be ruled by children
is to have leaders who are not up to the task, who are childish
and mentally inadequate and weak, who are fearful and biased and
partial and egocentric. People who pursue politics for
power and not to improve the lives of the population and the
environment in which their citizens live. And we look around in politics
today and we wonder where can you go to find honourable men
and women? These are judgments of God. At least they were 700 years
before the coming of Christ. Might we not see these replicated
today when we see the same sins generating the response of the
Lord? You look at churches or you look
at church leaders and Isaiah says, the show of their countenance
doth witness against them. They no longer even try to hide
their lies. They have no shame at the hypocrisy
that they exhibit. They claim to speak for God and
at the same time act in direct contradiction to the Word of
God. There is an open and a flagrant
disobedience. They declare their sin as Sodom
and hide it not, says Isaiah. I wonder what words he would
use to describe what is going on even in our religious and
secular world at this moment with respect to Sodom and Gomorrah. When the leaders of church and
state call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light
and light for darkness, put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. It's not a sign that judgment
is coming. It's not a sign that judgment
is imminent. It's in itself the evident judgment
and proof that it's already begun. But enough of this. It's easy
to identify the fruit of sin in a fallen world. Paul says
in Romans chapter three, their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace
they have not known. So there's plenty of that in
the world, but it's our privilege to think on higher things, more
blessed things, more glorious things, the things of Jesus Christ. What does Isaiah have to say
to the Lord's people? at the same time that he is declaiming
against the wicked here in this chapter. Let's have a think about
what he says to the Lord's people. There is an irony that when judgment
is promised in the word of God, it's the Lord's people who tremble. It's the Lord's people who become
anxious. it would seem counterintuitive
that that should be the case. Surely the blessed of the Lord
should feel vindicated that judgment is coming and the wicked should
tremble. But rather when God promises
judgment, the wicked are careless. They have no fear of God before
their eyes. Paul writes to Timothy and he
says, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. So that as the condemnation of
God unfolds, the wicked seem increasingly careless and the
people of God more and more anxious. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Well, happily, Isaiah has a message
for the Lord's people in just this situation. A word of comfort
and hope and reassurance that God's faithfulness towards them
is firm. And we, you and I, brothers and
sisters, believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should not lose
sight of this. Even then, in the days of Isaiah,
long before the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
for it is He who is in view in this passage, is sending words
of comfort to help His remnant people. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Lord who is spoken of in verse 1, just as He was the
angel who was sent to the Jews in the wilderness. He is the
one whom the people are called to behold. Behold the Lord, the
Lord of hosts. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is Jehovah, the Lord of hosts. Now the remnant people of God
will never be forgotten by their Saviour. We are his bride. We are loved and cherished by
the Lord Jesus. We are his dearly beloved children. We are his little flock. A mother will forget her children
before the Lord Jesus will forget or fail to take care of us. In
the midst of a sinful generation, and every generation is sinful,
in the midst of a sinful generation, surrounded by false religion,
the Lord's people are reminded of God's continuing faithfulness
to his own dear ones. And as the Lord, through Isaiah,
condemns and punishes the wicked, and removes his blessings and
brings judgments on the wicked, when the wages of sin begin to
be paid out, the Lord defends his own, promising to stand up
for his church, affirming their peace by declaring Say ye to
the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall
eat the fruit of their doings. They shall eat the fruit of their
faith. They shall eat the fruit of all
that the Lord God has provided for them in their Saviour. There's
a word of comfort here, directed expressly to the Lord's people. And we have three little statements
that are made here by the Lord Jesus Christ with respect to
the Lord's elect. Placed as they are in Christ's
safekeeping for all eternity, the Lord never forgets them.
And Christ tells Isaiah to speak peaceably to his covenant people. and here are what he calls them. He says in verse 10, they are
the righteous. Say ye to the righteous it shall
be well with him. Now These individuals are not
righteous in themselves. Their righteousness is the righteousness
of Abraham, the righteousness that comes by faith as a gift
from God. That's the only righteousness
that there ever has been in this world. Because man is a fallen
creature, and all that emanates from this flesh and this mind
is tainted and spoiled with evil. But there is a people who are
righteous and indeed this reassurance had to be given to these dear
souls because they trembled being aware of their own state and
condition before the holiness of God. Here we see the picture of the
Lord's grace extended to these folk in the time of Isaiah. As the judgment started to unfold,
as the stirrings of God's justice were felt, the guilt in the mind
and in the heart and the soul and the spirit of these elect
people started to stir. It's as if to say, we are ruined
with the ruin of Jerusalem. We are as fallen as those who
comprise the fall of Judah. Our tongues, our doings are as
much culpable as the tongues and the doings of any other.
We are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of His glory. Surely
we have provoked the Lord to anger. Do you see this? Do you see what is happening
here? As the judgment unfolds, it's the people of God who tremble. Those who should have been afraid
have no fear before their eyes. And those whom the Lord calls
righteous tremble before the holiness of their God. And yet
what a word of comfort is sent to them. Fear not, little flock,
you are righteous in my sight. Isaiah, say to the righteous
that it shall be well with him. And that was true then, and it
is true today, and it always will be. It shall be well with
our souls who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be well
in this world, even in the midst of judgment and in the midst
of deception. It shall be well with the righteous
for the sake of Jesus Christ. How is it that the Holy Lord
God can tell a sinner like you and me, it is well with your
soul? only because He has made that
soul as holy and pure and righteous as the Lord God Himself. It is only by taking away our
sin and justifying those sinners with a perfect righteousness
that it can possibly be well with our souls. But this is what
the Lord calls us. He calls us the righteous. He has made us spotless. He has
declared us unblameable and acceptable in every way to God. This is what we call justification. The making of a soul, a man,
a woman, a boy or a girl, righteous in the sight of God. It is not
a work that man can do for himself. It is, in essence, a work of
God. And it is an eternal work. It
is an everlasting work. It is a work of God's covenant
purpose of salvation and grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is bestowed by grace. It is
received by the obedience of faith and it is learned and enjoyed
and felt. by depending on the trustworthiness
of God and believing on the promises of God towards us in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ long ago
had been set up in the covenant of peace as surety for his people. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. His sacrifice redeems us to God. His death makes us holy and enables
that righteousness of God to be our portion, to make us unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. And the Lord Jesus Christ identifies
a people in every age and declares them to be righteous. He says, behold, judgment is
upon you, but tell the righteous, it shall be well with him. So that's the first thing that
the Lord says to these people. He calls them the righteous.
So who are the people called righteous? Well, the Lord Jesus
Christ leaves us in no doubt about that matter either. He
says they are my people. My people are the righteous people. O my people, he says, they which
lead thee cause thee to err. O my people, they which lead
thee destroy the way of thy paths, while the Lord standeth up to
plead and standeth to judge. The Lord, the Saviour, tells
us that he has a people and they are his people, my people, and
he stands up to plead and to judge for them before their enemies. Now, there's a distinction here. It's of the very essence of the
Lord's words. Their enemies are not his people. So here we see this distinguishing
grace being played out in the lives of individuals and in the
history of the world. The Lord has a people that he
calls righteous and they are his people and they are distinguished
from the rest of Adam's race. A distinction that is made between
those who are the Lord's and those who are not. This is the
elective purpose of God. This is the election of grace
that Isaiah spoke about in chapter 2 and which the Apostle Paul
speaks about in Romans 11 when he says in verse 5, Even so,
then at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. my people, my remnant people
according to the election of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the eternal word stands to speak for his people as our representative,
as our advocate, as our intercessor. True it is we have plenty of
accusers There are plenty of grounds for accusations. But when Jesus stands to represent
us with the absolute certainty that all our sins are carried
away, He says, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ that justified.
He has paid for, in full, never more to be remembered against
us, our sin. What a blessing to have such
a one stand for us before God, before the law, under the constant
tirade of Satan's accusations and to declare us guiltless. because as his people he has
borne all our sin and secured all our salvation. Paul reminds
us of the Lord's words, I will call them my people which were
not my people and her beloved which was not beloved. And again
God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will
be their God and they shall be my people. So the Lord calls
his people the righteous and he calls them my people. And here's the third thing that
Isaiah tells us that the Lord calls his own elect. Remember that Isaiah was preaching
to an Old Testament people waiting patiently for that blessed hope
of Christ's coming. They waited for Christ's first
coming as we wait for his second coming. And they were called to be patient
in their waiting. And this is what the Lord said
to their oppressors and to their enemies. He says, The Lord Jesus
Christ calls his righteous people, my people, and he calls us the poor people
for whom he is pleased to stand. It's an interesting accusation
that the Lord makes against these enemies of his people. He says
that they have robbed his people, taking their spoil into their
own houses. They have beaten the Lord's people
to pieces. They have beaten the Lord's people
to pieces. They've ground their faces in
the dirt. So they're robbed, they're beaten,
and they're humiliated. And if we consider these spiritually, we discover that
the religious world and the leaders of the religious movements of
our world, of every age, steal and rob the blessings of the
Lord's people from them. And they take what is not theirs.
They take what is not their possession and not their right and they
store them up in their own houses. And they talk about them. And
they exhibit them and they manage them and display them as if they
were their own. But they have no right to these
things. They are not their own. These are the possession of the
poor. Blessed are the poor. They take the joys of the Lord's
people, the comforts of the Lord's people and they hide Christ from
them. They exploit religion as it has
always been exploited for their own gain and they make merchandise
of God's elect, the people of God. Peter writes about this,
the Apostle Peter, he writes about false teachers among you
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. That's in 2 Peter chapter
2 verse 1 and the verses following. You might want to read that sometime
and just see how Peter speaks about these false teachers. But
they're robbers! They're thieves and they're robbers
and they steal from the Lord's people that which does not belong
to them and never will. And they do it under the auspices
of religion. And also, Not only are the people
of God robbed, but they're beaten. The men and women of this world
have beaten the Lord's little ones by tempting and abusing
and luring them into sin. Now this is not, and that's not
my intention, this is not to mitigate our own responsibility,
our own culpability, our own weakness and the natural fleshy
desires of our heart. But the Lord states, woe unto
the world because of offences. The world offends the people
of Christ. Woe unto the world because of
offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to
that man by whom the offence cometh against one of my little
ones. The day will come when the righteous
judge of all the world shall put all things right and hold
every man accountable for the sins committed, not only against
God, but also against his people, and charge the wicked for their
sins. Romans chapter 12 verse 19 says,
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath,
for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord. And he will repay. This world robs the blessings
of Christ from the elect to the best that they can by hiding
Christ from us and this world beats down the body of Christ
and the people of Christ by their temptations and by their abuses
and by the way in which they confront our minds and our eyes
and our thoughts and our senses with all the wickedness that
is around about us so that our hearts are grieved within us.
Like it was in the day of Noah. This world opposes and endeavours
to crush and dominate the spirits of the Lord's people by sneering
and mocking and humiliating the Saviour, the Saviour we love
and the Gospel in which we believe. And yet Christ says, Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are
ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Hear then, hear then the Lord's
words as he stands in defence of his church and holds accountable
all who harm his little ones. take comfort that the moral chaos
and the spiritual confusion we see in our present age is not
God losing control and wicked men grasping authority from the
hands of the Lord. These manifestations of evil
are the first fruit wages of sin. They are the beginning of
sorrow. They are the confounding of the
wise of this world and the humbling of the mighty of this world. Men and women shall reap what
they sow and the judge of all the earth shall do right. As in the days of Isaiah, so
in all these last days in our age, the church the elect of
God, the righteous, my people, the blessed poor, are safe, secure,
and under the formidable protection of their shield and defender. God is on his throne, dispensing
justice and judgment according to his own goodwill and pleasure,
and so it shall be. Amen.