Ethiopians, Leopards, and Post-Moderns - Isaiah 33 and others

Last week we talked about how many church leaders today have so little faith in the Scriptures that they feel compelled to search out novel ways to make the Gospel relevant to our post-modern society.  But I am convinced that the Bible is as relevant today as ever.  The entire Bible, if taught correctly, is relevant and applicable and contemporary for Christians today and in every age.  The reason for this is because the fundamentals never change: God never changes, the Lord Jesus is the same today as always, and people never change.  Sinners continue to need a Savior.  That is why the Bible is always relevant. 

Today my theory of relavant-ivity will be put to the test.  We’re studying Isaiah 33, and we have yet another chapter that sounds a lot like much of what Isaiah has already said in the first 32 chapters.  Why is that?  Why does God move Isaiah to say the same basic thing again and again?  The recurring themes we see him addressing are:

I. The sinfulness of God’s people and their need for repentance

II. The sovereignty of God over all the nations of the world

III. The coming judgment of God upon His sinful people

IV. The future judgment of God upon the nations for their sinfulness

V. The coming day when the Messiah will rule over a new world and a new people in righteousness and justice

These are the main teachings of this book which spans about 60 years of Israel’s history.  And that is the reason why these things are repeated again and again.  Over the course of Isaiah’s 60 years of prophecy, God does not change in His righteousness, His people do not repent of their sinfulness, and they continue to be in great need of a Savior from their sin and from their enemies.  This is why here at Grace Fellowship, we hear in one form or another, week after week, sermon after sermon, the same basic message: Jesus saves sinners.  God graciously works in His people to deliver them from their enemies.

The people of God have always had many enemies in this world.  We have wicked human enemies who hate the righteous and the godly.  We have a demonic enemy who is like a lion seeking his prey, desiring to see us stumble and fall and sin against the One we love.  We have our own fleshly desires that war within us and provoke us to sin so that we are often an enemy to ourselves.  Even God is an enemy to the wicked and unrepentant.

The introduction of sin and death into the world by Adam created a pervasively hostile environment for all those who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.  We have enemies without, enemies within, and until men repent of their rebellion they are enemies of God.

That was the way it was in Isaiah’s day, and that is the way it is today.  That’s the way it will be until the end of the world.  That is why the Bible is always relevant. 

Look with me at Isaiah 33, let’s read it together and see what it has to say to us today.

1  Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed,

you traitor, whom none has betrayed!

When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed;

and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.

Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

3 At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,

4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,

6 and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

8 The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases.

Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man.

9 The land mourns and languishes;

Lebanon is confounded and withers away;

Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.

11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.

12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless:

“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions,

who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,

who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,

16 he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;

his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.

18 Your heart will muse on the terror: “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?”

19 You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.

20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!

Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,

whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.

21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams,

where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.

22 For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver;

the Lord is our king; he will save us. [i.e. The Lord is our Savior]

23 Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.

24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

The greatest difficulty in this chapter is figuring out who all the pronouns refer to.  Who is “he” and “we” and “they” and “you”?  That is an ongoing problem throughout Isaiah in particular, and throughout the Bible.  Sometimes we don’t know for sure exactly who these words refer to, so we take our best shot based upon the context.

In verse 1, Isaiah speaks of those who destroy and betray.  It is a fairly safe assumption he’s talking about the Assyrians.  They have been a continual threat to Jerusalem.  Those who are the destroyers of Judah will be destroyed, those who betray covenants will themselves be betrayed.  Assyria is the terrorist nation of Isaiah’s day.  God has already promised that He will send them to be a terror to the Jews and to Jerusalem.  But God will also punish them for their ruthlessness towards His people because He is a God of justice and they will be held accountable for their atrocities.

Now notice verses 2 - 12.  Isaiah is expressing the thoughts and prayers of the people of Israel.  They are looking forward to the day when God deals with Assyria.  They are calling for Jehovah to terrorize the terrorists.  They wait upon God to act on their behalf against their enemies.  But they also anticipate the day when God blesses Jerusalem with peace and righteousness.

 2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.

Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

3 At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,

4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,

6 and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

God is a defense for His people and a great enemy of the wicked.  While Isaiah asks the Lord to be gracious towards Jerusalem, he also asks that God might raise Himself up against Assyria.

What happens when God lifts Himself up against a nation in His justice and anger?  Verse 3 tells us peoples flee and nations are scattered.  We see nation rising against nation today and we wonder when the world will ever enjoy some semblance of peace.  According to one website:

“The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varying degrees of intensity.

Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants.” 1

According to another website, if you ask how many wars are currently being fought in the world, 

If you count all current conflicts where hostilities are still present, and conflicts that have ceased hostilities but are still unresolved there are approximately 41. This includes the obvious conflicts in Afganistan and Iraq, as well as conflicts like the Korean war that have cease fires in place but are still unresolved and the 2 sides still stare at each other over a gun barrel. 2

Some things never change.  Like war.  But we read in Isaiah 42:13,

The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

That is what God will do, when He rises up:  when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered.  God Himself will put an end to war.  Eventually, the destroyer will be destroyed and the betrayer will be betrayed.  In verses 7-9, Isaiah speaks of the ravages of war and the desolation in the land as a result of Assyria’s destruction.

8 The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man. 9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

But once God has finished using Assyria to bring discipline against His own people, in verses 10-12 God comes to the rescue for Judah and becomes a consuming fire against the Assyrians: 

10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.

11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.

12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

“Now that I have finished using Assyria for My own purposes, now I will rise up against them.  Now I will be exalted and you will be destroyed.  Your entire nation is like fuel for the fire of my wrath.”   The destruction God brings against His enemies is so severe that even the people of Zion, God’s own people, fear His awful anger.  With fear and trembling, they say in verse 14:

“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

If God treats sinners like this, who can stand?  If God’s anger burns against His enemies in this way, how can the godless, sinful people of Judah and Jerusalem expect to survive?  Who is able to survive the wrath of an indignant, holy God?

Isaiah gives the answer: He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly. (v15).  He who not only talks but who also walks, acts, and lives a righteous life.  And that is true even today, in what we sometimes think of as this age of grace.  But this is no more an age of grace than Isaiah’s day was in a certain sense.  People were saved by the grace of God in the Old Testament just as they are in the New Testament era.  God has never dealt with men as their deeds deserve.  God has always been slow to anger and gracious towards the just and the unjust.  The only people who walk righteously and speak uprightly are those whom God regenerates by His power and His Spirit.  Notice what God promises them:

17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.

18 Your heart will muse on the terror: “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?”

19 You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.

20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.

The eyes of the righteous will see THE King in His beauty!  The hearts of the righteous will ponder, “I wonder what happened to the king of Assyria?  Haven’t seen him lately.”  The eyes of the righteous WILL NOT SEE their enemies any more.  What they WILL SEE is the city of God, Zion, the immovable, eternal city with the everlasting King of Glory.  And in that day,

22 For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king;  he will save us.

Notice the four roles God fulfills for His people: Judge, Lawgiver, King, and Savior.  He is the judiciary, the legislature, and the chief executive.  And just so we don’t have a separation of Church and State, He is also our Savior.  He is the government over His people, and their Deliverer from every enemy on every side.  He saves His people from their enemies, from their sins, from Satan, from themselves, and even from His own wrath against them in their sin.  What a great Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ!

24 And no inhabitant (of Zion in that day) will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

No sin.  No sickness.  No war.  No enemies.  No death.  No need unmet.  No fear.  No condemnation.  We shall not want.  We shall lack nothing.  We shall see the King in His glory, and in His presence there will be fullness of joy!  Fullness of joy!  Complete and unending satisfaction of every desire will be found in Him.

What is not relevant about all this?  Since when is hope in God irrelevant?  Beloved, we have the same hope of eternal life that the Jews of Isaiah’s day had.  We have the same faith in God that He will deliver us from our enemies.  We have the same need to be forgiven our iniquities, and the same desire to to be healed of our diseases.  What has changed?  What better Gospel is there than this one?  What more contemporary message do we need to hear?  Why is this word from Isaiah obsolete?

It isn’t.  One verse in the New Testament that ties all of this together and makes it all completely relevant for me is a verse I’ve mentioned to you on numerous occasions.  Look with me at Galatians 3:29.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Do you belong to Christ?  If so, then you have a direct connection, a direct relationship with Abraham (who is considerably older and therefore presumably more irrelevant than Isaiah).  You are the recipient of the same promises God made to Abraham when He believed God 3500 years ago.  There is an unbroken line (at least) from Abraham to Jesus to us.  The promises belong to us!  When Peter finished preaching on the day of Pentecost, he ended by saying:

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  (Acts 2:36-39 ESV)

Has the Lord called you to Himself? He is the same God who called Abraham, and Moses, and David, and Isaiah, and Peter.  He is the God who calls men and women to Himself today, and makes the same promises to them that He made to Abraham and to all His people throughout the ages: the forgiveness of sins and eternal life!

Some things never change.  The prophet Jeremiah asked the people of Judah this rhetorical question: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  The answer, of course, is no, they can’t.  Then he finishes the statement: Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.  Just as the leopard and the Ethiopian cannot change their own natures, so sinners cannot change themselves and become holy, righteous, and just.  

We have not changed ourselves over the centuries so that our fundamental needs are now different than they were when Adam sinned in the Garden.  Our need for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.  So bend the knee to the King of Glory, the One who is our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King, and our Savior. 

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1. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html

2. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_wars_are_currently_being_fought