Isaiah 13–27

0:00 There's a famous poem that my children had to memorize when they were in fifth grade at Highlands Latin School. I didn't memorize the poem, so I can't recite it to you. In fact, I can't even remember who wrote the thing. But it's entitled, If. And basically, it's a series of if statements. If this and if this and if you can do that and if you can do this and if you can do that. And then it ends at the very end with the then statement. Then, my son, you will be a man. One of the first lines of the poem, though, that I sort of did memorize, is the only line that I memorized, was this one.

0:37 If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, then, my son, you will be a man. I've always loved that line because I think the Christian life is very much about keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs. I think a whole lot of what we deal with as Christians is a temptation to lose our heads, to go a little bit crazy, to let the headlines and the tweets and everything that's happening in the world and the real dangers in the world get into our hearts and get into our heads and cause us to lose them both.

1:13 But how do you do what that poem is talking about? How do you keep your head when all about you are losing theirs? I mean, is that just a matter of willpower? Is that just a matter of, you know, everybody else is going to lose their minds, but I'm going to stand firm and solid. I'm not going to let the thing affect me. Is that what it is? Is it just willpower? Or is it maybe a matter of gifting or genetics? I mean, maybe some people are just more tuned in to the ability to keep their heads when everyone else is losing theirs.

1:45 Is that what it is? Just sort of natural ability? Well, I don't think so. I think the ability to keep your head when everyone else around you is losing theirs actually has to do with what you put down into your heart. It has to do with the truths and realities that you push down into your heart. And then when things get hairy, when things get wild, when people around you start to lose their heads, the thing that you draw on in order to keep yours is the truth and the reality that you've shoved down into your heart. Well, that's part of what we're going to be talking about today as we continue our study of the book of Isaiah this morning.

2:19 Take a Bible. If you've got one, turn over to page 576. That's where our text this morning starts. If you don't have a Bible and you're new to this, you're going to want to grab one one way or another. There are Bibles scattered all throughout the main hall here, so either in the pew rack in front of you or maybe under the chair if you're sitting up in the balcony or on the sides. But you're going to be super helped to have a Bible in front of you. Otherwise, I think a lot of what I'm going to say today is just not going to click, right, because you're not going to be able to look down at what I'm actually talking about.

2:50 So take a Bible. If you want to use a phone and, you know, click over to Isaiah 13, I suppose that's fine. You're going to have to do a lot of clicking, though. And I think clicking is actually, in a weird way, harder than flipping. So you're going to do better with a paper Bible, you know, but it's on you. If you want to use your phone, you're just probably going to get lost. Just fair warning. Just to get you up to speed, if you haven't been with us, Isaiah the prophet prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah. I'm not going to go through that whole history again. You know it. Civil War, North and South.

3:21 Isaiah was in the South, the kingdom called Judah. He prophesied about 750 to 700 years before the birth of Jesus. So from us, we're talking about 2,770 years. Something like that is how long ago this guy Isaiah was prophesying. We've already been in the book for two weeks now. We've made our way through 12 chapters. And I hope you can already tell from what we've studied in the last two weeks that Isaiah's vision of God's sovereignty over the world, I hope you can already tell this, is nothing short of sweeping.

3:53 And the story that he tells about God's determination to save his people and how he's going to do that is nothing short of epic. Isaiah is an epic book. It's not just a bowl of spaghetti with a few favorite passages in it. The whole thing from start to finish is telling a story, and it is an amazing, mind-blowing story, bigger than any other story that's ever been told because it's telling the story of the Messiah. coming to save his people. In its most basic structure, Isaiah is 66 chapters.

4:24 Those chapter divisions were put in in the 1200s or so by a bishop named Stephen Langford. But it's 66 chapters or so. Generally, the chapters are correct, but not always. What Isaiah did with the structure of his book, though, was not divided into 66 chapters. What Isaiah did with his book is basically divide it into three huge sections. So you've got a section that runs from chapter 1 through 37. That's one of them. The next one runs from 38 to 55, and the last one runs from 56 to 66.

4:55 Now, I told you I was going to test you on this, so we're going to do this today and a couple of times as we make it through the series, okay? So all in unison, fill in the blank. Chapters 1 through 37, we can call the book of the coming king, but yeah, that's fine. Coming king, but you did all right. Okay, chapters 38 to 55, the book of the? There you go. Good. Even got the adjective in there, suffering. And finally, 56 to 66, the book of the?

5:29 Yeah, that was weaker because that's weaker because it doesn't quite get picked up in the same way in the New Testament, right? Because we're all very well aware of the coming king from the New Testament. We're all very well aware of the suffering servant from Isaiah 53 and the New Testament. Anointed conqueror is not a title that the New Testament uses for Jesus, so we're a little shaky on that one. That's okay. We're not in that section today. Today, we are in the book of the King. And so we're going to be looking at 15 chapters, a big chunk of that section that runs from 1 through 37.

6:01 Running start, two weeks ago, we looked at chapters 1 to 5. That's a kind of prologue to the whole of Isaiah in which God indicts his people for their sin. And the overwhelming message of that prologue is one of encroaching darkness and unavoidable judgment closing in on the people of God. So you remember the end of chapter 5 where you've got this image of a sailor looking back toward land as a storm comes in. And the last lights on the shore are blinking out as he finds himself alone in the dark of the storm that's rolling in. So that's what's going on in chapters 1 to 5.

6:33 Last week we looked at chapters 6 through 12, which has, if you remember, maybe you took some notes or kept the handout, it has two major parts. You've got a message first to the southern kingdom of Judah, and then you've got a message to the northern kingdom of Israel. So southern comes first, then northern, both of which messages kind of track along the same line, if you remember. And both of them culminate with a vision of this amazing, divine, spirit-filled, Davidic king or Messiah or anointed one who's going to one day rule over God's people forever.

7:08 So that's how chapters 6 through 12 work. Well, today we're looking at the next major section of Isaiah, which runs from chapter 13 all the way through 27. That is 15 chapters. It seems like a lot. And it is a lot. I'm not going to lie to you about that. But I think it's not going to be too hard for us to get our heads around it once we understand how the thing is structured and what it's doing. Now, obviously, we're not going to read the whole thing, not going to read 15 chapters of Isaiah. That would just take too long.

7:38 Though I do hope you found some time earlier this week or over the course of the week to read those chapters in advance. I think you'll understand things better. But I do want you to be familiar with the structure of these chapters. So just like every week, you should have in your bulletin or somewhere near you anyway a handout that looks like this. Again, it's just titled, Outline of Isaiah 13 through 27. And if you put this on your knee next to your Bible or on the opposite page of the Bible, you'll be able to follow along with exactly where we are in the structure of this thing. So take out that handout, and I'm going to explain to you the structure of Isaiah 13 through 27.

8:16 So look at your handout there. basically what you've got in chapters 13 to 27 are three cycles of prophecy, each one of which corkscrews further into the future. That's what's going on. So three cycles of prophecy, and each one is pushing a little bit further into the future. Now, what gives us the impression that that's what's going on? Well, if you look at that first division there, the first cycle of prophecy, chapters 13 to 20, you can see that the prophecies are being made against very concrete, very particular nations, right? So you got Babylon, then Philistia, then Moab, then Damascus and Israel who were allied together, and then Egypt. Those are all concrete, very specific nations, and each one of them is getting a prophecy made against them in the particular time that Isaiah was prophesying.

9:08 In the second cycle of prophecy, do you notice that with the exception of the very last one, Tyre, which is a city that we're going to talk about later, those are not exactly particular nations, right? The desert by the sea, silence, evening, the valley of vision. Now, you can tell once you get into those sections what nations and cities those things are talking about. But when they're titled, so, you know, for example, desert by the sea is Babylon, And silence is a nation called Edom and Valley of Vision there, the D section, chapter 22.

9:39 That's actually Jerusalem. We're going to talk about all of that. But as they're titled, they're given these sort of hazy, mysterious, shadowy names. And I think the point of that whole thing is that we're not just talking about particular nations at a particular time anymore. We're talking more now about the nations throughout history. And these become symbolic of principles that tend to operate throughout history and in all nations as they set themselves in opposition to God.

10:11 Now, here's the other thing that's interesting about these prophecies. If you look over to the left-hand side, you'll see A, B, C, D, E, right, in the first cycle, and then in the second cycle, the same A, B, C, D, E. What that's telling you is that each one of these oracles within these cycles, right, Babylon and desert by the sea, Philistia and silence, Moab and evening, they're all teaching more or less the same thing in parallel. So the A sections are teaching the same lesson. The B sections are teaching the same lesson. The C's are teaching the same thing, and the D's and the E's. That's what that's trying to tell you. And you can see out there in the parenthesis a kind of headline of what that lesson is, right? So the A's, we're going to talk about this quite a bit. The A sections are teaching that God's orchestration of history is basically all for the sake of God's people.

11:03 The B sections are telling you to look forward because history is long. C sections are teaching a lesson about you can't find help anywhere except the Lord. The D sections are asking the question, where's your faith gonna be? And then the E sections are saying God sometimes does unexpected things when it comes to salvation. So that's what the first two cycles of prophecy are doing. First one's very particular to Isaiah's time, particular nations. Second one, corkscrews into the future. And now we're talking about these hazy, shadowy nations of the world, right?

11:33 And then in the third cycle of prophecy, you really don't have any nations at all anymore. It all has just kind of melted down into two big camps. And those two big camps, you can look at them there, 24, 26, are the empty city or the wretched city, the empty city. It's one that's been judged by God. That's one of the cities. And then in chapter 26, the strong city, which is the city of the people of God, Zion, Jerusalem. And what you have in that third cycle is really the city of man and the city of God facing off against one another.

12:08 And all the nations of the world and all their opposition to God have just melted down into this one mass of opposition to God and God's people. Okay, so that's how the structure of the whole thing works. And the main idea of this whole section, chapters 13 to 27, is this. History is long, but take heart, because God reigns over it all, and he moves history for the sake of his people. That's the main idea. History is long, but take heart, because God reigns over it all, and he moves it for the sake of his people.

12:47 I want to look at this text in four points, kind of doing what we did last week for most of it. sort of looking at A's, then B, C, D, then E. That's kind of what we're going to be doing today. So three of these points are looking at those parallel lettered sections on your handout. Here they are. Number one, God moves history for the sake of his people. So we're going to look at the A sections there. Point number two, looking at all of B, C, and D. All of those, B, C, D, in both directions. God's people must patiently trust in him.

13:19 God's people must patiently trust in him. That's BCD sections. That's point two. Point number three, looking at the E sections on your handout, is God's triumph will be total. His triumph in the world and in history will be total. That's section E. That's point three. And then finally, point number four, just looking at the whole third cycle of prophecy down there at the bottom. In the meantime, God's people are secure. In the meantime, God's people are secure. So let me give them to you again quickly.

13:50 Number one, God moves history for the sake of his people. Those are the A's. Number two, God's people must patiently trust in him. That's B's, C's, and D's. Number three, God's triumph will be total. That's the E's. And then number four, in the meantime, God's people are secure. That's the whole third cycle, chapters 24 through 27. Here's why this is important. We're not doing this just because it's interesting, though. I find it just endlessly fascinating the way Isaiah has put his book together. And I find the story that he has told just mind-blowingly epic.

14:20 It just raises my view of who God is and what God has done to save us. It makes Jesus glorious to me when I study this book. But it's not just that. Another reason that we study this book is because just like the nation of Israel, we are living as God's people in dangerous, frightening times. Now, I can say that not because we live in uniquely dangerous and uniquely frightening times, but because God's people throughout history have always lived in dangerous, frightening times. We have always lived with opposition.

14:52 We have always lived with Satan warring against us, as we read about in Revelation chapter 12. And our time is no different. And we have our own challenges, right, as God's people, as God's people living at the beginning of the 21st century. Maybe we're not surrounded right now as American Christians in particular by great empires threatening to invade our land and destroy our homes. That was the challenge of the nation of Israel then. It's not so much now. But it does sometimes seem like we as God's people right here and right now are being pressed to the wall.

15:24 The truth of the word of God is being questioned and rejected. Our faith in various ways is being mocked and ridiculed. The vast majority of people that we live among and go to school among and work among are moving not toward the word of God, but they seem to be moving away from the word of God and with prejudice against it. It's not even that they don't care. It's that they've decided that the truth of the word of God is evil. And therefore they've decided that God's people are evil. And yet even in dangerous, frightening times like the one we live in, Isaiah's message is that it is our place.

16:03 In the midst of all of that, it is our place to patiently trust that God is sovereign over all of it. There is no place for panic in the Christian life. You hear that? There is no place for panic in the Christian life. Why? Because we know, above anybody else in the entire world, we know who sits on the throne. We know who reigns. And so we wait patiently and for a long time for his and ultimately our also triumph.

16:43 So point number one, let's dive into this and see what Isaiah has to say to us. Point number one, God moves history for the sake of his people. We're going to be looking at the two A sections there on your handout. Two A sections in the first and second cycles of prophecy. Both of those A sections actually have to do with the nation or the city, sort of a city-state, ultimately an empire of Babylon. So if you look at 13.1, you can see that there. The oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw.

17:14 And if you want to flip over to chapter 21, you can see the oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. And you can't really tell what's going on there. We don't know what the wilderness by the sea is until verse 9. But then it becomes clear that it's Babylon, right? Fallen, fallen is Babylon. All the carved images of our gods, he is shattered to the ground. So both of these section A's are talking about the nation of Babylon. Now, it's interesting, actually, that Babylon is the only nation that shows up in both cycles of prophecy.

17:46 And not only does she show up in both cycles of prophecy, she shows up at the top of both cycles of prophecy. Now, why would that be? Every other nation just gets one mention, right? I mean, even Israel. It's northern kingdom in the first one, southern kingdom in the second one. So even those two kingdoms only get one mention in these two cycles of prophecy. Babylon gets two. And she comes at the beginning of both. Now, why is that? Well, it's because throughout the Bible, Babylon takes on a deeply symbolic role as you might call it the city of man.

18:20 In other words, she takes on a symbolic role as mankind organized in opposition to God. And that symbolism of Babylon runs throughout the whole story of the Bible. It starts in Genesis with the building of the Tower of Babel, if you remember that. That was on the site where the city of ultimately Babel-on would ultimately be founded, right? So at Babel was where the whole thing started. Mankind organizing itself and saying, we are going to throw ourselves against the God of heaven. We're going to vaunt our pride against the God of heaven and build this tower up to the skies so that we can be where God is.

18:54 That's where the whole thing starts, right there at Babel, ultimately Babylon. Carries on in the story through the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. You remember how he vaulted himself against the glory of God, the exile of God's people, ultimately to Babylon. And then finally, even in the book of Revelation, in chapters 18 through 19, the city of Babylon stands there symbolically for all of mankind in its rebellion against God. And at the end of Revelation, the whole of heaven rejoices when the angel cries out, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.

19:27 So the fact that Babylon heads up both these cycles of prophecy here, Shows us that even here in Isaiah, even in the first cycle, it's already being given some of that symbolic meaning. So these chapters are not just, though they are in the first cycle, they're not just about particular concrete nations. They're about the nations, all of them, in their opposition to God. It's interesting that in the second cycle, so if you look at chapter 21, verse 1, It's interesting that in the second cycle, Babylon is called the wilderness, or you might even translate that better, as the desert by the sea.

20:09 And you look at your handout, all but one of these nations are given these mysterious, shady names there. But this one's particularly interesting because Babylon, the desert next to the sea, was nowhere near the sea. It was like 600 miles from the nearest ocean. A desert makes sense. I mean, you can call Babylon a desert or a wilderness because that's where it was. It was in the desert. It was in a kind of oasis in the middle of the desert. But not the sea. The sea just doesn't make sense.

20:40 And the wilderness next to the sea, it just doesn't make sense. So what's going on? Well, that phrase, the wilderness by the sea, seems to be a message about just the utter worthlessness of nations like Babylon to bring life and fulfillment for all of their riches, for all of their defense measures, for all of their armies and all of their kings and empires. The nations are basically worthless to bring life and refreshment. That's what that phrase means. You can't get water. You can't get life-giving, refreshment-giving water from the desert.

21:13 And you also can't get life-giving, refreshing water from the sea. Right? It's like Kipling said, water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. You drink the water of the sea, and it's going to kill you because of all the salt in it. You can't get refreshment from the wilderness, and you can't get refreshment from the sea. So a wilderness by a sea, in terms of sustaining life and giving life, is just completely worthless. And that's the message that God has for Babylon in both these sections. Because of her rebellion against God, she has made herself worthless, and therefore God's going to destroy her.

21:45 So let's read a little bit and try to get the flavor of it. Look at chapter 13. We'll just start right there at the beginning. Let me read a few verses of it so you can see what's going on. The oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw. On a bare hill, raise a signal. Cry aloud to them. Wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exalting ones. The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude. The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together.

22:18 The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come from a distant land, from the ends of the heavens. the Lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. Skip down to 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdom, it just goes on like that from, you know, verse six all the way down through 19. And then you come to the kind of payoff in 19. Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations. No Arab will pitch his tent there.

22:49 No shepherds will make their flocks lie down there, but wild animals will lie down there and their houses will be full of howling creatures. Their ostriches will dwell and their wild goats will dance. Hyenas will cry in its towers and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged. Now, I mean that's bracing language but if you've been reading Isaiah there's really nothing there that we haven't seen before in this book. It is just verse after verse after verse of devastating words of judgment against this wicked nation.

23:21 Very similar, if you were following along last week, to the words of judgment God poured out against the Assyrian empire. And look at 14.3. You got this brilliantly written taunt against the king of Babylon. 14.3, it just kind of keeps going. When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil, and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon. How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.

23:59 The whole earth, now that the king of Babylon is dead, the whole earth is at rest and quiet and they break forth into singing. The Cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us. And then listen to this. Sheol is the realm of the dead, okay? So it's where all of the former kings and former great ones of the earth, They've gone down to the realm of the dead already. And it's an arresting image because they're almost like skeletons sitting on thrones with their crowns on, with cobwebs.

24:30 That's kind of how I see it. But look what he says about it. As the king of Babylon, who's now dead, makes his entrance into Sheol, the realm of the dead. He says, Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you, O king of Babylon, when you come. It rouses the shades, the ghosts, to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth. It raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. You can see them with their bones creaking as they stand up from their thrones to welcome the king of Babylon into the realm of the dead.

25:01 Verse 10. All of them will answer and say to you, you too have become as weak as we. You have become like us. Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps. Maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. And it goes on. How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn. It's talking about the king of Babylon. Maybe something else that we'll talk about later, but certainly the king of Babylon. How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low.

25:34 You said in your heart, like the people of Babel before him, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. You will be like God, Satan said. But, verse 15, you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pits. So it's just devastating judgment, mocking judgment of the king of Babylon throughout the whole two chapters.

26:14 But is that it? I mean, just mocking judgment of the king of Babylon? Well, no, there's a whole other layer of meaning here. There's judgment, yes, and that's very clear, and it's brilliant in certain ways, but there's another layer of truth underneath that judgment that God wants us to see here. So look up at 14, verse 1, the part that we skipped. 14, 1. He says there, all this judgment, right, on both sides of it, all this judgment, For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel and will set them in their own land and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

26:53 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land as male and female slaves. They will take captives, those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppress them. Now, what do you see there? What do you see in those two verses? You've got restoration of Israel. That's true. Right? Verse 2, you've even got this reversal that takes place where Israel is now going to be, you know, the slave masters to those who once they were slaves for. They're going to be the ones who rule over those who once oppressed them.

27:23 So you've got this reversal going on there. But what else do you see there? You see that word for right at the beginning of 14? It means because. In other words, all this is going to happen. All this judgment is going to happen. All of this tearing down of the empire of Babylon is going to happen because of something. And what is it because of? Why does God tear down this nation?

27:55 Why does he move history to tear down Babylon? He tears down Babylon. All this will happen because the Lord will have compassion on Jacob, his people. You see the logic there? It's mind-blowing. God judges the nations. God moves history. He orchestrates the affairs of the cosmos for the sake and good of his people. It's just a mind-blowing thought. Same thing happens in chapter 21. If you look at chapter 21, verse 10, you can see the same thing happening.

28:29 21, 10. So you've got this oracle about the fall of Babylon, right? And at the end of it, in the beginning of 21, at the end of that oracle about the fall of Babylon, You've basically got this watchman who gets word in verse 9, right? Horsemen come and they call out to the watchman, fallen, fallen is Babylon, and it goes on. And then look what the watchman says in verse 10. Oh, my threshed and winnowed one, you who have been just beaten to the end of your lives, my threshed and winnowed one, What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you, O Israel.

29:12 Do you see that? The fall of Babylon happens so that God's people who are pressed to the wall will be comforted. That's why it happens. All the judgment happens for, because God will have compassion on his people. I mean, brothers and sisters, this is the kind of thing that brings peace to the heart of a Christian. And it gives us as God's people what's necessary to patiently endure in a world that seems both at the same time out of control and yet completely controlled and dead set against us as God's people.

29:49 Look, I know you look at the world, you look at things that are going on in history, and it can be frightening to look at it all. It can be frightening to feel like there's nothing you can do about it as things happen in the world. Great nations rise and fall. Intellectual movements sweep over the cultural landscape, some of which threaten to tear the nation apart at its seams. And I'm sure there are certain things that you can do. You can organize, you can vote, you can speak, you can write, you can tweet, you can publish a book. At the end of the day, for most of us, there's just not a ton that we can do to affect any of that, much less keep it under control.

30:24 So there's a temptation even for the people of God as we doom scroll through our Twitter feeds to just feel this sense of out-of-controlness of the world. And we get shaken. But, friends, what gives us confidence, what gives us strength and patience and prevents us from panicking is our sure and certain knowledge that there is, in fact, someone who is in control of it. And that someone loves us. I mean, it's great, isn't it?

30:58 It's amazing to think that there's somebody in control of this thing, that God, who sits on the throne, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is in control of all of it. That's wonderful to think about, isn't it? It is, unless that God was dead set against you. And then it wouldn't be a comforting thing to think about at all. But what Isaiah is saying here in these oracles about Babylon is that that's not the case. God is going to have compassion on his people, And therefore, that empire will fall.

31:29 And that's the big thing that Isaiah is talking about here. The big thing that Isaiah is talking about here is that God not only controls it all, but he controls it all for our good. I mean, you ever just stop and think about that? God is moving history. He's moving nations and kings and empires throughout history for your and my ultimate good because we are united to Christ. Those of you who have had children in your homes know what that's like, right?

32:02 You love your children. You have compassion for your children. And so therefore your entire home gets rearranged around the good and the safety of that child. You stick little things in the light sockets. You put little things on the cabinets to prevent the kid from drinking the Drano, right? You do all kinds. You reorganize your life and your home for the good of that little tyke. Well, friends, in God's economy, you're the little tyke. And God is not just rearranging his house. He's rearranging the whole of history for your good and for your safety.

32:37 It's an incredible thought. God will do good to his people. And therefore, this nation will rise and that one will fall. God will do good to his people and therefore, this culture will be ascendant for a moment. And then fall. This civilization will rise and then fall. The Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, the Qing Dynasty, the Western world, the British Empire, the American experiment. Every detail of it throughout history, God did and is doing to bring maximum benefit to you as a Christian.

33:13 You study history ever? I was a history major in college. If you study history, if you read history, you know what you ought to do sometime as you're reading the history? I mean, whatever era it is that you're studying. Read that history as a love letter from God to you. You may not be able to quite understand the love letter. You may not understand why God let this nation rise and that one fall. But you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did. Nations and empires and kings and kingdoms are nothing to him compared to you, his redeemed people.

33:50 All of those, with all their splendor, with all their gold, with all their crowns and their scepters and their tanks and their armies, it's all just a means to the end of doing good to you. What an incredible thought. And if that's true, then point number two, God's people must patiently trust in him. God's people must patiently trust in him. So let's work our way fairly quickly through B, C, and D. Both of the B sections are similar in that they tell us basically to look forward to a time that has not yet come.

34:23 So if you look at chapter 14, verse 28, this is the B section, Philistia. In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle, verse 29 is kind of the point of this one. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken. For from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying, fiery serpent. Now, what does that mean? Weird language, lots of metaphors being put together. What does that mean? Well, the key is verse 28. The king of Israel is dead.

34:54 He's a bad king. We're glad he's dead. Remember Ahaz? But he's dead. And so the Philistia people, Philistines, they are rejoicing because the dynasty of David seems to have died. And in verse 29, that's the rod that has been broken. The rod is the dynasty of David that has been broken with the death of the very powerful King Ahaz. And the Philistines are very excited about that. But what happens in verse 29? Well, Isaiah says to the Philistines who are rejoicing, don't rejoice too much because do you remember what happened in Exodus to a rod when it fell on the ground?

35:27 It turned into a snake because that's what God does and that's what's going to happen to you. The rod of the dynasty of David that you think is broken and worthless now It's going to turn into what is called here. I mean, this thing sounds terrifying. A flying, fiery serpent. And it's going to devour you, Philistines. But it's not going to happen yet. See all the future tenses there? It's not happening immediately. But ultimately, the dynasty of David is going to turn into a serpent that will destroy you. Now, here the serpent is Jesus, right? It's a very strange verse, but that's what it means.

36:00 Same thing kind of happens in the other B section. So turn over to 21 and look at 11 and 12. 21 verses 11 and 12. It's on page 583 if you're tracking along. So you've got the oracle concerning Duma. Duma is a word that means silence. We can tell from the word sire there, one is calling to me from sire. That's a mountain in a particular nation called Edom.

36:31 And so what's happened is that Edom has become Duma. right? I get it. It's sort of a joke, but that's what's happening. Isaiah didn't have the most awesome sense of humor, but there it is. I is what's going on there. But look what the message of this oracle is. The oracle concerning silence is what that means. One is calling to me from sire, watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night? And the watchman says, Morning comes, and also the night.

37:02 If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again. Do you see what he's saying there? This guy wants to know what's happening. Watchman, what time of the night? What time of the night? And the watchman is just like, go away. Morning will follow night, and night will follow morning, will follow night, will follow morning, will follow night. If you want to ask again, ask again, but I've got nothing for you. In other words, history is going to be long and often silent. In other words, if you take those two B sections and stick them together, it's going to be a long time, Isaiah is saying, before the king comes.

37:39 So just be patient. We're not going to spend any time on the C sections. You can read those later. Their point, if you look there, no help is how I title it. It's just that the people of the world who are not God's people, who are not under his protection, are not going to find any help anywhere else. So it tells a couple of stories in those C sections about people who are looking for help in other places than in God, and they just, they don't find it. So you can, you can look at that later. The D sections, though, finally drive this main point about patience home because they're focused on the two kingdoms of Israel.

38:12 First D section is about the north. Second D section is about the south. And their point is that in the midst of this time of waiting, as history is so long, The call to God's people is not just a kind of stoic patience, like I'm just going to grind it out through all the centuries of history, but it's rather an active trust in God and God alone. So let me show you those D sections. So turn back to 17, look at verse 1. 17.1, this portion of it is titled An Oracle Concerning Damascus.

38:48 And it is, but by the end of it, or really like after the first couple of verses, it actually turns into an oracle about the northern kingdom of Israel. Why? Why is Israel lumped in with Damascus? Because Israel had lumped herself in with Damascus. When the Assyrian Empire started threatening her, she made an alliance with Damascus, this very powerful military city. In other words, she ran for protection not to her covenant God, but to this other nation with a big army. So the point is that God's going to destroy Damascus.

39:19 And if you look at verse 4 there, Israel, the northern kingdom, is going to go down with it. But look at why this is happening. Look at verse 7 of chapter 17. Because God's going to tell you why Israel and Damascus and their alliance are going down. 7. In that day, man will look to his maker and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands. He will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the ashram or the altars of incense. In that day, their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel.

39:51 And there will be desolation. Why? Verse 10, because you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the rock of your refuge. See, Israel is falling because she forgot the God of her salvation. She saw danger and she put her trust in Damascus instead of the Lord. Same thing's happening in that other D section, chapter 22. So flip over to that one. Chapter 22, exact same thing is happening.

40:24 The phrase there, the oracle concerning the valley of vision is another ironic name. Because actually, geographically speaking, Jerusalem is high up on a hill. Geographically, that's where she sits. And yet, here, she's set to be in a valley. And then there's this ironic idea of it being a valley of vision. right a valley where you can see a long way and yet the whole idea of a valley is that you are surrounded by mountains and you can't see anything except the mountains that are right in front of you so valley of vision despite the fact that there's that book of puritan prayers called valley of vision is not a good name it's mocking jerusalem it is not saying that if you go down into this valley there will be nice waters flowing through the heather and you'll be able to have vision about god it's not saying that it's saying you people who think you're up on a hill are actually down in a valley and it's such an ironic valley that we're going to call it the valley of vision even though you can't see anything that's what it's doing ironically it's not a good name but again why why has jerusalem been brought low like this well look at the reason that's given in

41:27 verse 8 middle of verse 8 so he's taking away the covering of judah that's like you know that's that's being brought low but look at why in that day in the day of danger in other words you looked to the weapons of the house of the forest. And you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. So you collected the waters of the lower pool and you counted the houses of Jerusalem and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. In other words, you got ready for battle. You did everything that needed to happen to get ready for a siege of your city, but you did not look to him who did it or see him who planned it long ago.

42:08 You see, again, just like the northern kingdom, they trusted in someone other than the Lord. This time, though, it wasn't in another nation, but they trusted in themselves. That's why the question in both of these sections is, who are you going to put your faith in? Where's your faith going to lie? That's the critical question of every single human being's life. Who will you trust? Who's your faith going to be in? Look, friend, it doesn't matter who you are. Every single one of us is going to have faith in something or someone.

42:42 Every single one of us is going to lean and rest on something to give us security. Now, there may be somebody in here saying, not me. I don't lean on anything. I don't lean on anything. I stand on my own. Well, okay, but you know that that's just having faith in yourself, right? It's not that you're not leaning on anything. It's that you're leaning, or at least trying to, on yourself. You're not doing anything other than what the people of Jerusalem did here when a siege engine came against them. They relied on themselves but didn't look to the one who planned it long ago.

43:14 But see, the point of both these sections of Isaiah is that nothing other than the Lord himself, nothing in this life is worthy of your trust. Nothing else that you try to rely on, including yourself, is ultimately going to hold up. Money will not hold up. Friends will not hold up. Family won't hold up. pastors won't hold up eventually all of them all of them are going to come loose and fall out from under you if you look at that that next section there 22 chapter 22 15 to 25 that long sort of prose looking paragraph it's the same message that's going on there basically that long paragraph not going to read it tells about two men who are not worth trusting so first you've got this guy, Shevna, who looks the part, right? I mean, he looks very rich. He's clothed in all of this rich clothing. And you're supposed to look at that and go, yeah, that doesn't look trustworthy, right? He looks the part of somebody who's powerful, but I know from the Bible that that

44:15 doesn't look trustworthy. And so you're supposed to reject him because God's going to take him down. He's not worthy of your trust. But then there's this other guy in the middle of the paragraph, Eliakim, who really does look the part. He looks humble. He looks like the man that God has chosen. He looks like he's got everything together, and it looks like you could hang your whole life on this guy. But look at 23, verse 23, chapter 22, 23. God says about this guy, Eliakim, I'm going to fasten him like a peg in a secure place. And just by the way, secure place there is the word amen.

44:50 So it started out as a noun, meaning a secure place. Amen. I'm going to fasten him in an amen, Which, you know, you take that forward into the New Testament. And when we say that about God, we're saying, you're the secure place. Amen. Right? So that's where it came from. Fasten him like a peg in a secure place. He'll become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they're going to hang on him the whole honor of his father's house. The offspring and issue. Every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons. He looks good. But in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in an amen will give way.

45:23 And it will be cut down and fall. and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken. Do you see the point there? Even somebody who looks the part, even somebody who looks like they are deserving of all your trust, finally isn't. Only God is. Everything else is going to give way. Some of you need to see that in living color this morning, because you have been trusting in everything but God to give you security.

45:55 but friends God's the only one who's going to do it he's the only one who provided a way of salvation for you in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus and if you come to him and hang your life on that peg you're going to find that it will never ever be cut off it'll never fall and you'll be secure for eternity and that's the that's the message here B, C and D God alone is worthy of our trust and that trust is going to have to hold on for a long long time that's what the Christian life is ultimately right the Christian life is just a long trust in the same direction the king's going to come we don't have any doubt about that but what Isaiah is telling us is if it takes a long time if night follows day follows night follows day for a very long time don't sweat it I mean how many nights and days are going to follow I have no idea and that and

46:57 that's the point our faith in God isn't on a timer however long he waits however long he decides to take to move the nations for our good still what we do as his people is continue to trust him why because point number three ultimately God's triumph will be total ultimately God's triumph will be total. One of the interesting things about Isaiah so far that we haven't really touched on are these little flashes of promise that salvation God's going to bring about through the Messiah chapter 9, chapter 11, that this salvation is not ultimately just going to be for Israelites. It's going to be for all the nations of the world which is a surprising thing. But so far in Isaiah, you only get these little flashes of that. It'll just be a little phrase about some other nation other than Israel being under the reign of the king or something like that. Little flashes. Well, here in 13 to 27, those little flashes become this blinding explosion of promise and grace, especially in those E sections there

48:00 on your handout. So let's look at them. So turn, I think you're probably going to be on this page already, chapter 23. What you've got in chapter 23 there is a prophecy about Tyre, which is a seafaring city along the Mediterranean Sea and a perpetual enemy of Israel. Like they were at war all the time throughout their history. And so the whole chapter, we're not going to read it, but it's just, the whole chapter is the kind of judgment that we've come to expect, right? Just one blow after another as Tyre is thrown down, her ships are sunk, her merchants are ruined and lose all their money and all their wares.

48:34 And you come to the end in verse 17, and it's nothing new. Look at 17. So she's going to be destroyed for 70 years. And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will visit Tyre And she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world in the face of the earth. That's exactly what you'd expect from Tyre. God gives them a little bit of grace, and they throw it away and turn into prostitutes again. But then 18 comes like a bolt from the blue. Look at 18, 23, 18.

49:05 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord. What? I mean, it's just like, oh, Tyre's saved all of a sudden. It's just at the end of the chapter in the very last verse. There it is. Same in the first cycle. It's basically the same ideas with Tyre, but this time with Egypt. I mean, if you look at chapter 19, the other E section. Chapter 19.

49:39 And the whole thing is just blow after blow after blow against Egypt in judgment. But then look at 19 in kind of the same way as Tyre. In that day, this is 1919. In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they, the Egyptians, cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he'll send them a savior and a defender and deliver them. The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. what in the world is going on?

50:12 I mean, this is Egypt, right? This is like a paradigmatic enemy of God's people. And here they are, they're making sacrifices at an altar and praying to the Lord and he's saving them. I mean, it's just incredible what God has done here. Basically, you've got this entire nation that's just changed. And then look at 24. It's even more astonishing. Verse 24. In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, A blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance.

50:50 It's nuts, because all of those phrases, my people, and the work of my hands, and my inheritance, are titles that are given to Israel and nobody else. And yet here they're being given to Egypt and Assyria? And the Lord even seems to have a sense of humor here, Because you remember what the whole, I mean, you remember the most famous line that was ever said to the Pharaoh of Egypt was, right? Let my people go. And here he's calling Egypt my people. At one point in Exodus, he separated Egypt from my people and destroyed the one and freed the other.

51:26 And here the one that was destroyed is called my people. He just saves them. Just like that. I mean, you see the point of this? God's triumph and redemption will be total. It will not be provincial. He's not just in this to save one little nation of Israel. He's in this to save the whole world. He's in this to create a new nation from every tribe, tongue, people, and language who are going to be united by their allegiance to him and his son, the King, the Messiah.

51:58 I mean, I got to tell you, I think chapter 19, verse 24 is one of the greatest missions texts in the entire Bible. That's why we as Christians have to be always a people on mission. It's what we do. We drive, drive, drive actively to take the good news of the kingdom to all the nations of the world. I mean, next month, in July, we're going to present to you a budget that the elders have been working on for the last couple of months. And a huge portion of the money that you give to this church, we are going to give to other people so that they can take the good news to the nations.

52:36 Now, if we didn't believe that 1924 is actually going to happen, if we didn't think that that was God's program in the world, it would be absurd for us to send that much money to other people who are just out there talking about Jesus. But we think this is what it's all about. We want to see Egypt called my people. We want to see Assyria called the work of my hands. We want to see people all over the world, from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, coming and bowing their knee to the king and becoming a part of this new nation that God has created.

53:08 I mean, here's another thing that you should see in this. Just in Tyre and Egypt, just being saved, right? Never underestimate God's ability to do completely unexpected things. Never underestimate God's ability to do totally unexpected things. I mean, Tyre's just being judged, just like for an entire chapter and then boop, they're saved. And Egypt's just being judged for an entire chapter and then boop, they're saved, right? Just like that. Listen to me. God can and he does still save people just like that.

53:45 I mean, if you were here last Sunday evening, we got to rejoice with the family in our church because a man that we as a church have been praying for for years professed faith in Christ when he was in his 70s. They've been praying. We've been praying for him for years. And you know what they told me about how it actually came out? Like, this man had been slowly making his way from atheism to agnosticism to theism. And he had begun to pray over several months, you know, just pray to a God, just a God, a God, a nameless God out there.

54:15 And then all of a sudden, at the dinner table, he started to pray in the name of my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Just like that. And his wife was just like, hold up, you can't just drop that out there and not tell me what you mean by that. But 70 some odd years of nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, and then just, but he's saved. Friends, don't give up on God. Don't give up praying for anybody. You never know what God will do in somebody's life. Look, it might be that today right here is your day for God to do that very thing.

54:52 It doesn't matter how hard you've been. It doesn't matter the objections that you've made. I don't care if you've written books about atheism. Let this be the day that it's just, boop, God saved you. Come to faith in Jesus Christ. See his beauty. Maybe this is the day where everything changes for you all at once. It would not be unusual for God to do that. Here's the last thing. Number four, in the meantime, rest in knowing that God's people are secure.

55:23 Rest in knowing that God's people are secure. I mean, I hope you can see now the picture that Isaiah is painting in this whole section, 13 to 27. The whole world of nations and empires is all under his sovereign control. It's all under his judgment. And yet in various ways, they're also being offered grace from his hand. So the first cycle starts in the very concrete time of Israel. Then the second cycle corkscrews forward into the future as concrete nations become more symbolic. And by the third cycle, which starts in chapter 24, really you've got no more nations at all.

55:59 The whole thing is just kind of melted down, you can see it on your handout, into the empty city, chapter 24, and the strong city in chapter 26. And what the chapters are saying in 24 to 27 is that every single person is going to have to make a choice which of those two cities you want to belong to. Now, I want you to notice a couple of things. All of this raging against the Lord, the raging of the nations, the raging of the city of man, the broken city against God, the empty city, all of that, what's behind it?

56:36 What's behind the raging of the nations against God? Is it just accident? Is it just random? Well, no, and Isaiah lets us see that really clearly. So just look at the last chapter, 27, verse 1. Because Isaiah shows us here what's behind the raging of the nations. 27 verse 1. Here's what he says. In that day, the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent.

57:16 Leviathan, the twisting serpent. And he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Now, who is that? Well, the word serpent there is used in Genesis 3. And the word dragon there is used in Revelation 12. So what we're talking about here, Leviathan, the serpent, the dragon, is Satan. And what Isaiah is teaching us there is that opposition to God and God's people is not random.

57:54 It's not just an accident of history. The opposition to God and God's people that rages throughout history is orchestrated. It is strategized and it is executed by our great enemy, Satan. You realize that, right? You realize, right, that life is not just about what you can see and feel in the here and now. There is a whole war and a whole battle going on around you in the unseen realm. And you and I as Christians who have been brought to life as little sparks of the new creation are a part of that warfare.

58:28 We've been caught up into something far larger than ourselves. So the world's opposition to God's people, it's not random. The raging of empires and nations against God and God's people is not random. The dismantling of the created order that seems to be happening in transgender ideology in our own nation today is not just an organic development of intellectual thought. It is an attack by Satan on God and what God created.

59:00 It's all driven by Satan. All the raging of the nations with their armies, with their kings, with their intellectual movements. It's all driven by Satan and it will all ultimately fail. You know what chapter 26 is? I'm not going to take time to read it, but I think you should. I think you should this afternoon read it again. Because basically what happens in chapter 26 is that you have a song that's being sung by the redeemed people of God as they are safe in their strong city.

59:38 So what does that mean? What that means is that right here in the middle of Isaiah, chapter 26, it's our song. It's the song of the church. And if we had time to read it, I think you'd see it. It's like the people of God sitting in a strong, safe fortress, watching the nations rage, knowing that they are in danger and yet knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that their God is going to protect them. It's a beautiful song, and you should read it this afternoon. Friends, we live in a dangerous world.

1:00:12 Just like the people of God have in every time and in every season, we live in a dangerous world. And we have a dangerous enemy who is bent on destroying us. But if we have a great enemy, we have an infinitely greater God. Let's put our trust in him. Let's pray. Our Lord, we thank you and praise you this morning that you are the great God. You are the one who has acted for our salvation.

1:00:45 And you are the one who will act in the end to bring us safely home to your throne. Father, we pray that as the centuries of history roll by, as the years roll by, Lord, we ask that you would help us to be patient as we trust in you. As things change, as things move, as our lives make their way through the various phases of human life, oh Lord, help us to be faithful to you and to patiently wait for your coming and your final salvation. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus, our Savior and our Redeemer. Amen.