One of the gracious acts of our Lord in the Scripture is that he often gives us numerous reasons for why obeying his commands is a good thing. He need not do that, obviously. He could simply say that we must give. But he doesn’t. He tells us that by giving we are storing up treasure in heaven. He could simply tell us to fast and do good works in secret. But he doesn’t. He tells us that our Father who sees us in secret will reward us openly. He could simply tell us not to be anxious about the things in this world we need. Again, that would be sufficient. He is God, we are his creatures, and we must obey him. But, once again, he doesn’t stop with simply saying, “Don’t be anxious.” Rather, he promises us that he’ll feed us as he does the bird, clothe us as he does the lilies, and will add to us all that we need as we seek first his kingdom. Again and again, the Lord provides commands and then graciously provides motivating reminders and reasons for why obeying him is so good for us. And when we turn to chapters 13-27 of the book of Isaiah, we find that same pattern here.
The main message of the book of Isaiah is one of trust. Since the people of Judah live in a time of consistent threat, with Israel, Syria, Assyria, and ultimately Babylon threatening their safety and security, the question before the people of God is continually, “In whom will you trust?” Will Judah trust in the God who created them, called them as his own people, and brought them to dwell in the promised land, or will they trust in alliances with other nations, false gods who they think might deliver them, and even in their enemies like Egypt and Assyria?
As I noted last week, throughout the book, the response more often than not is that they will choose to turn away from God and trust in man. They are a people who have greatly rebelled against the Lord their God. We’ve already seen in chapter 7 how Ahaz chose to rely on paying tribute to Assyria instead of trusting in the God who promised him that he could and would take care of the threats of Israel and Syria.
But as this call to trust in the Lord is heard through Isaiah’s prophecies, we find in this second section of the book (chapters 13-27) another note of the Lord’s kindness as he reaches out to his sinful people. We find the Lord giving a multitude of reasons for why his people should trust in him and not in the foreign nations. That is, as is common with our gracious God, he not only commands his people for their good but then provides reasons for why it is good for them to obey.
These reasons for trusting in the Lord are what I want us to see this morning, since we too are called to trust in the Lord and are always tempted to trust in others or care more about the approval of others or fear others more than the Lord. But before noting these reasons provided in the text, let me note a bit about the structure of these chapters. Chapters 13-27 are obviously a large section of text, but these chapters form one unit within the book. These chapters may basically be summed up as the Lord’s pronouncement of judgment on the nations. That is, in each of these prophecies from Isaiah, he is pronouncing judgment on each nation. This doesn’t mean that Isaiah delivered each of these prophecies back-to-back. Rather, they were most likely prophecies spoken at different points by Isaiah during his ministry, but when they were written and compiled, they were placed together as a section of prophecies against the nations. Moreover, these prophecies were probably never spoken to the nations themselves. Isaiah probably didn’t go to Egypt to share the prophecy against Egypt in chapters 19-20, and that holds true in the case of the other nations as well. Instead, he simply spoke these to the people of Judah who were called to trust in the Lord for a reason I hope to highlight here soon.
One other note I want you to see in the text is that these prophecies are also given in cycles. There are actually three sections of text within this one unity. In chapters 13-20, you have the first series of judgments pronounced against Babylon (13:1-14:27), Philistia (14:28-32), Moab (15-16), Damascus and Israel (17-18), and Egypt (19-20). Then, in 21-23, you have a second series of judgments listed. Like the first, this series of judgments begins with Babylon again (which is quite interesting in light of the fact that Judah would not have known at the time that Babylon was their greatest threat and would-be conqueror). Unlike the first series of judgments, some of these areas are called by odd names. For examples, Babylon is referred to as “the wilderness of the sea” and Jerusalem referred to as the “valley of vision.” The nations listed in this second series include: Babylon (21:1-10), Edom (21:11-12), Arabia (21:13-17), Judah (Jerusalem, 22), and Tyre (23). And these two series are capped off by chapters 24-27, where worldwide judgment and salvation are pictured.
One other element we should note with the first two lists is that you can see (if you’re familiar with the geography) that these are nations that surround Israel and Judah. They are their neighbors to the north, south, east, and west. And if all of your neighbors are enemies, then it leaves you in a vulnerable position. This is then why Judah is being asked to trust in the Lord. So, why is it that Judah should trust in the Lord instead of the nations? Why should they trust in and fear God more than man? First, these chapters show us that:
This is probably the point that is most apparent in this text. God is sovereign over the nations and over history. Now, when we say that God is sovereign, we mean that he is in control. He has all power and knows all things – past, present, and future. And the reason he knows all things is not simply because he is able to look into the future, like some empowered fortune-teller. The reason he knows the future is because he is purposing history. He is directing and controlling world affairs. He knows the future because he knows what he himself will bring about.
Perhaps the most remarkable way we see this reality in this text is that Babylon is the first nation mentioned in each of these series of oracles. You can see that they’re the first nation mentioned in 13:1 as Isaiah notes, “The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.” But you can also see that they’re the first nation mentioned in the second cycle of oracles, as the Lord declares in 21:1, “The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea,” which he identifies in 21:9 as Babylon.
Now, in hindsight, we can understand why the Lord mentioned Babylon twice and as the first nation in each of these lists. After all, it was mighty Babylon that in 587 B.C. destroyed Judah and took the Israelites into exile. It is Babylon which brought so much destruction to the Lord’s people in the Old Testament that when the Lord pictures the enemy state in the book of Revelation, he calls them “Babylon.” So, obviously, it’d be nice to know when Judah is in exile and Babylon is the reigning world power that the Lord is in control of and reigning over even the mighty Babylon. But what’s even more impressive is that he’s delivering this word where he emphasizes Babylon (by repeating them and putting them at the top of each list) over 100 years prior to when they would conquer Judah.
But we know how wicked and untrusting we can be, don’t we? And, yes, it could be comforting in about 580 B.C. to remember Isaiah’s prophecy and know the Lord spoke of the mighty Babylon before they were ever a mighty empire. But what about the people in Isaiah’s own day? If Isaiah was delivering this prophecy somewhere between 740-701 B.C., the temptation of Isaiah’s contemporaries could be to say, “Well, it’s really easy to prophesy the downfall of Babylon, but they’re nobody right now. Our big enemy is Assyria.”
Now, again, saying that, we could note that they had no idea what Babylon would become. But even so, note what the Lord does in 14:24-27. Right at the end of this oracle concerning the judgment that would come to Babylon, the Lord provides a quick word about Assyria’s destruction, noting in 14:26, “I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot.” Then he adds at the conclusion to this first oracle, “This is the purpose that is purpose concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (14:26-27). The answer of course is “no one,” because God is sovereign over the nations and over history.
And the Lord’s sovereign control is emphasized throughout this proclamation of what will happen with each nation. When the Lord gives an oracle concerning Egypt, for example, in chapter 19, he notes not only that they will be destroyed but that the Lord himself will confuse Pharaoh’s wise counselors: “The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel” (19:11). Why? “The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit” (19:14). Mighty Egypt will even begin to fear Judah because they recognize that the God Judah worships is the one purposing all of these things. Thus we read in 19:17, “And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.”
Then, one more example (though we could note more). In 23:8-9, when the Lord speaks of the judgment of Tyre (a commercial seaport in that day), the Lord again notes that they will crumble simply because the Lord has purposed it. We read, “Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.” God is sovereign over the nations and over history.
Isn’t it foolish of us, then, to sit, and fret, and worry? Isn’t it foolish of us to be anxious without making our requests known to the God who sits on his throne and reigns over the nations and over history? Isn’t it foolish of us to be gripped by fear concerning what tomorrow might hold when this God is our God, when this God is our Father, when this God loves us and is working all things to our good? Judah obviously should have trusted the Lord instead of man, recognizing that God was sovereign over all things and thus much more powerful than any neighboring nation. But is it any less the case that our trust should be in the Lord? This God is our God.
So, instead of being obsessed with hoping we get man’s recognition, man’s praise, man’s approval, and man’s respect, let’s make a commitment simply to seek to please and fear and honor the Lord. Let’s be more concerned about whether or not we’re pleasing the Lord than whether or not we’re pleasing man. After all, man comes and goes but the Lord is the sovereign God. He is sovereign over the nations and over history. But Isaiah also shows that he is working to a specific end as he controls history, namely,
What is clear in these chapters is that the sovereign Lord will judge all nations. Again, as we saw last week, the Lord is not embarrassed to declare that he is the judge of all the earth and all the nations owe absolute obedience and worship to him. And if they don’t, they will be judged. Therefore, as Judah is tempted to look to the surrounding nations in hopes that they might make alliances and find security, Isaiah reminds them that one reason they should trust in the Lord instead of these surrounding nations is because one day the Lord will judge these nations.
One of the things that becomes clear throughout these chapters is that these nations mentioned are merely representative of the fact that on that final day Christ will make all enemies a footstool for his feet. That is, we are not to think that if one particular nation is not mentioned here that they are somehow exempt from God’s judgment. No, one day God will judge all the nations, all peoples.
In fact, in chapter 13, the judgment against Babylon is started as an image in which the Lord is doing battle against all the world, destroying his enemies. This is a day of his final judgment, the “day of the Lord” as the Scripture often refers to it, when God will judge all men.
We read in 13:3-13, “I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. The sound of a tumult is one the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the LORD comes cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. . . . Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.”
Now, yes, the Lord is quite particular about different elements that will happen with the judgment of each of these nations in history. For example, the Lord says of Babylon in 13:17, “Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,” and it was indeed the Medes that joined the Persians in defeating Babylon. Also, he notes in 14:8 that the cedars of Lebanon are rejoicing at the fall of Babylon because no woodcutter is coming to them, and that makes historical sense as well since the Babylonian kings would have wood shipped from Lebanon to build their fantastic buildings. And such is the case for nation after nation mentioned. But it becomes clear again in chapters 24-27 that these nations are simply representative for the Lord judging all of his enemies on that great and terrible day of judgment.
Notice, for example, in chapter 24 how often the Lord refers to judging the whole earth. We read, “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. . . . The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word. . . . The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth” (24:1, 3, 19-21).
Finally, then, it becomes clear that he is not only judging peoples who have made themselves his enemies but even Satan himself, pictured as a dragon of the sea called Leviathan in 27:1, as we read, “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
There is a temptation to want to be like the Lord’s enemies. If we want to push back against that claim, I think it’s only because we’ve not necessarily thought in terms of those who deny Christ being the Lord’s enemies. When I was in high school and my friends were involved in sexual immorality, and I was trying to walk in purity, there were numerous times I would sit depressed because the temptation was so great to walk that same path. In Psalm 73, the psalmist says that when he considered the wicked and it seemed they were blessed, he envied them, and his foot almost slipped. That is, his knees buckled in his faith. And ours can do the same.
But we must remember that we’re often envying and being tempted to mimic people who will one day know the Lord’s judgment. That should be one element that helps us fight temptation. And if the temptation grows stronger, we must remind ourselves that running after sin may only mean that we’ll face the Lord’s judgment as well. In the midst of these oracles against the nations, in chapter 22 we find an oracle concerning Jerusalem as the Lord foretells of the day when they’ll be conquered by Babylon. He notes all that they did to strengthen the wall, breaking down houses to fortify the wall, making a reservoir for water, etc. But, he adds, “You did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago” (22:11). Knowing that God will judge those who rebel against him should cause us to trust him, seek him, follow him, and obey him. But there’s one more note I want us to see here:
If we ask why it is that the Lord is telling Judah that he will judge all of their neighbors as he judges the world, the answer is that he is telling them of their salvation. Throughout Scripture, judgment of God’s enemies is simply the other side of the coin when the Lord speaks of the salvation of his people. To save his people the Lord will judge his enemies.
After speaking of the judgment of Babylon in vivid terms in chapter 13, we are left to ask “Why?” Why will God judge Babylon? He answers in 14:1, “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.” And such is the case with all of these nations.
Perhaps this is most clearly seen when the Lord moves beyond speaking of specific nations to the destruction and judgment of death itself. The destruction of death will mean the salvation of his people. So, we read in 25:7-9, “And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Even the judgment of Satan in 27:1 is so that the Lord might make the whole earth new like Eden and be a place of blessing for his forgiven people. So, we read in 27:6, “In the days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”
The Lord is coming to save his people. It is certain. Again, why would we trust in things we can see in this life that are passing when we can trust in what is unseen but is eternal? Why would we be caught up in pursuing the things of the world when those things themselves will be judged on the day of our salvation?
And who are those who will be saved? It’s not simply those from Judah who believe. Rather, the Lord will bring people to faith from all over the world so that it might be clear that he reigns over all the nations. Thus, we read in 19:18-25, “In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction. 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 cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. 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.”
Now, obviously the Lord is contextualizing this prophecy for the people. This isn’t a prophecy that there’ll be more sacrifices made in worship to the Lord after Christ has died and been raised once for all. But the point is clear. The Lord will turn the hearts of people from all over the world toward him. He will bring people to himself from all nations. One reason Judah should trust in the Lord instead of the surrounding nations is because one day the Lord would bring many from these surrounding nations themselves to trust in the Lord.
The day of salvation is sure and certain. Therefore, hold on in faith. Persevere in obedience. Endure in the fight of faith. And you will not be disappointed. When the Lord opened your eyes to trust by faith in Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and was raised for you, it was so that you might live a life of trust, faith, and obedience before him. Don’t make man bigger than God, seeking his approval more than that of our God or fearing him more than God. Rather, remember that God is sovereign, that his enemies will be judged, that he will save his people, and give your life in utter and total obedience to him. May that be our visible pledge even now as we come to the table. Amen.