Isaiah 8:9-22
And then turn to Isaiah chapter
eight, Isaiah eight verses nine through 22 will be our passage
tonight. Isaiah eight, nine to 22. So
we’re picking up. where we left off. That’s a obvious
statement, isn’t it? We’re picking up where we left
off last week, but where we left off last week is the coming Assyrian
invasion with a glimmer of hope that a Messiah will come, a glimmer
of hope that Jesus will come and rescue and redeem his people. But there is a looming doom and
gloom. And I’m going to give you just
a quick couple things to think about as we read eight 9 through
22. In 9 and 10, you have a taunt. Isaiah taunts Assyria and says,
come do your worst. And then you have God giving
Isaiah a warning. Isaiah, I know you’re the preacher
of Israel, you’re the godly prophet, but don’t you fall into the same
trap. as your fellow countrymen. And then there’s a statement
of faith. Look to Jesus. He’s either your
cornerstone or your stone of stumbling. And then we need to
trust in the word and not soothsayers or other wacky people who think
they speak the name of the Lord. And then there’s the coming distress
from Assyria. So that’s a little pathway through.
So let’s give our attention now. to Isaiah chapter eight, beginning
at verse nine. Isaiah says, be broken you peoples
and be shattered. Give ear all you far country,
strap on your armor and be shattered. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it
will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not
stand for God is with us. For the Lord spoke thus to me
with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in
the way of this people, saying, do not call conspiracy all that
this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear
nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you
shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear and let
him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary
and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of
Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken.
They shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the
teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord who
is hiding his face from the house of Jacob and I will hope in him.
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs
and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount
Zion. And when they say to you, inquire
of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should
not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the
dead on behalf of the living to the teaching and the testimony?
If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they
have no dawn. They will pass through the land
greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they
will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their
King and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look
to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish,
and they will be thrust into thick darkness. Amen. This is the word of the
living God for us. So in the life and the ministry
of Israel and the prophet Isaiah, there’s been lots of talk of
doom and gloom. Israel has been unfaithful to
God. Judah also the southern kingdom
has been unfaithful to God and Assyria will haul off the northern
tribes in about 722 BC and roughly a hundred years or so later Babylon
will come in and over the Successive years of, I don’t know, say 605
to 586, something like that, they will haul off the Southern
kingdom of Judah to Babylon. So we’re thinking here of the
Northern kingdom and their impending exile by the Assyrians. And so
there’s looming doom and gloom. It’s coming and the sense is
that they can hear the footsteps of the Assyrian army as they
march from hundreds, if not a thousand miles away and make their way
into the little land of Israel and begin to capture it and to
prepare for the doom and gloom and judgment. But the hope, the
bright hope in this passage is Jesus. The bright hope in this
passage is Emmanuel. We sing from time to time the
wonderful hymn, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, my great Redeemer’s
praise. And we sing Jesus, the name that
charms our fears and bids us pray. our sorrows cease. To his music in the sinner’s
ears, to his life, to his health and peace. And that’s the simple
idea you should leave with tonight as you hear from these strange
verses of Isaiah 8, 9 to 22. Jesus, the name that charms our fears. It helps Isaiah. It helps the faithful who are
in the midst of all this doom and gloom. And I think it should
help us. You know, we certainly live in
a world where if you look at all that’s going on in the headlines
and you don’t even have to be a dispensationalist, a little
joke there, uh, to be, to be worried, you know, us good on
millennials, we can be worried too. The economy looks terrible.
It’s a political year and it’s going to get nasty and ugly before
it gets pretty and better. China’s on the move. Iran is
on the move. The enemies of Israel are certainly
on the move. And it kind of wonders sometimes,
is America trying to be an enemy of Israel or not? There’s just
so much going on. And we could even say there’s
doom and gloom on the horizon. Now, I watch the same channels
that some of you do. And if you’re not careful, you’re
going to want to stock up with food. Right? You watch those
channels, those commercials? If you’re not careful, you’re
going to want to convert all your money into silver. But please
don’t do that. You’re going to want to get some
solar panels or something so when the electric grid goes out,
you’ll be. You’ve got to watch Fox News.
I guess that’s what it’s for. But you get the idea. If you’re
not careful, you can watch all these commercials. They’re trying
to sell you something, right? And they’re trying to make you
scared. And there’s a sense where maybe some of that’s going on
in the land of Israel. God is telling Isaiah, don’t
fall for the things, you know, conspiracy, conspiracy. God is
telling Isaiah and the faithful Israelites, you need to trust
me. Yeah, it looks dark and bleak. And maybe we buy extra couple
cans of chicken noodle soup. I mean, you can’t buy enough
for the worst. And if the apocalypse comes,
you’re going to be gone anyway. So I wouldn’t buy too much. Sort
of joking y’all. But you get the idea. You can
be so, so utterly worried about things that may or may not come
to pass. You forget to look to Yahweh. You forget to look to
Jesus. You forget the name that charms
our fears and bids our sorrows cease. You can forget the name
that gives us life and health and peace. And so as judgment
is impending on Israel, And yes, the wicked will die. The wicked
will get hauled off. And there’ll be some righteous
who die and some righteous who get hauled off. Some people will
get left behind. They don’t clean sweep the whole promised land.
There’s going to be a remnant of God’s people. There always
is. And some will be in Assyria.
Some will stay back in the land of Israel. But we also got to
remember, in addition to the remnant, there’s always limits
on wickedness. Remember, the devil is God’s
devil. And God has the devil on a chain and the devil can
only go so far as God allows him. We know that from reading
the book of Job in the prologue. God tells Satan what he can and
what he cannot do to Job. And so the devil is God’s devil
and God has his devil on a chain. And so the limits of evil are
always under the restraints and always under the sovereignty
of God. Yes, things can get hairy, scary and nasty and dark. but it’s still under the sovereignty
of God. And that’s a great comfort, I do believe, but even more so.
We shouldn’t really worry about our skin. We shouldn’t really
worry about the hairs on our head. We should remember the
covenant promises of God. I will be your God. You will
be my people. God is a God of steadfast love
and faithfulness. He never forgets his promises. He never breaks covenant and
he never leaves or forsakes his people. Yes, you may go through
hardship. Yes, you may go through pain,
suffering, and even die. But as we read from Revelation
21 and 22, you’ll end up in heaven. You’ll end up with God forever.
So just a couple things, four things to think about in this
passage. First of all, look at the taunt in verse nine and 10. It’s as if Isaiah is saying to
Assyria, do your worst. Come on, Assyria, you think you’re
big and bad? Come do your worst. He says,
rather poetically, be broken, you peoples, and be shattered.
Give ear, all you far countries. Strap on your armor and be shattered.
Strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it
will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not
stand for God. is with us. Remember Jesus, Emmanuel,
God with us. Jesus is the name that charms
our fears and bids our sorrows cease. All it took for Isaiah. And he’s in the thick of this
too. He’s not just delivering the good news. He’s having to
live the good news. And it’s good when your preacher
believes the gospel that they proclaim. And so when he thinks
of Emmanuel, it’s the name for him also that bids our sorrows
and our fears flee. And so he says to the nations,
do your worst, you know, come on, bring it on. We’ll get through
it. God is on our side. And I think that’s a bit of encouragement
to us. You know, perhaps our diagnosis
in life is not the Assyrians, but maybe it’s cancer cells or
it’s, you know, a slow health decline or it’s, you know, the
unknown world of dementia. It’s the unknown of our body
breaking down. And maybe we wake up in the morning
and we peek out from under the covers and we say, oh, dear God,
if I get out from under these covers, it’s going to be a bad
day. We don’t know what will come. but we can speak or think
of the name of Jesus and our fears and our sorrows can take
flight. And yes, the realities may be
true, but we don’t need to become paralyzed. And so that’s the
encouragement, I think, from this taunt of Isaiah to the Assyrians
in verses nine and 10. But God also gives Isaiah a warning. Now y’all know from time to time
we’ll hear people say, you know, oh, pray for your preacher. You
know, pray for your elders. They, you know, they work hard
on your behalf. But I think the real reason to pray for your
preacher, the real reason to pray for your elders and to pray
for each other is we all have the flesh, remnant sin. We all
live in the world and its temptations, and we all have the devil against
us. And so if you’re seeking to be a mom or a dad or a pastor,
elder, faithful member of the church, a strong Christian in
this dark world, Satan hates you. The world hates you and
your own flesh will sometimes deceive you and you need to be
careful. And God gives a warning to Isaiah
in verse 11, the Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon
me. Okay. When God speaks to you
in a strong hand is upon you, uh, that’s a hand on the shoulder
that you can’t shrug off, right? You know, sometimes somebody
comes up to you and they maybe double hand you on the shoulder
and you’re kind of, Try to wiggle, wriggle away. Well, God comes
to him and warns him not to walk in the way of this people. And
he says, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy
and do not fear what they fear or be in dread. You know, I think
this is a good word for us. Cause again, we all watch the
same TV channels. We all see the same commercials.
We all hear the same doom and gloom. And we all probably go
to our bed at night in a fetal position, wondering, You know,
will I wake up in the morning or is Iran gonna nuke somebody
or whatever? Remember, God’s in control. Emmanuel is in control. Think
of Psalm 2. I think maybe Psalm 2 may have been in Isaiah’s mind.
The people’s plot and vein against God. The nations gather and they
say, you know, we’re gonna gang up on God and we’re gonna beat
him. And God’s sitting in the heavens laughing. And we can
have confidence knowing Yeah, right. That’s not going to happen.
No, no way is that going to happen. And so God says to Isaiah, don’t
walk in the way of people. Don’t fear what they fear and
don’t be in dread. I think I’ve told y’all before
of the story of B.B. Warfield, the theologian from
Princeton, who talks about the value of learning the shorter
catechism, and he talks about how during World War I or II,
I think it was, that these two men were passing each other on
the streets, two soldiers, and bombs flying and explosions everywhere. The two men had these strong,
firm, resolute looks. They walked past each other,
noticed each other, They both turn around and they both walk
right back to each other and one sticks his finger in the
chest of the other and says, what is man’s chief end? And the other says, man’s chief
end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And the other
said, I knew by the look on your face that you were a shorter
catechism boy. And it talks about the value
of learning your theology. If we come easily unglued, perhaps
we don’t know the things we professed about our God in the larger catechism
tonight. If God is at the helm and we
believe it, we won’t come unglued. I mean, maybe we worry, maybe
we pray, and yeah, maybe we have some bad moments. But if we believe
the things that we said about God, we got nothing to fear. If we believe that Emmanuel is
the mighty one, the Lord, the God everlasting, then we don’t
need to be like, God says to Isaiah, the people who believe
in conspiracies and fear what they fear and dread what they
dread. Look at verse 12, or I’m sorry,
verse 13. He says, the Lord of hosts, him
you shall honor as holy. Okay, they’re fearing, they’re
dreading. They’re worried, they’re shaking in their boots. But the
Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your
fear. Let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary
and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both the houses
of Israel and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
as many shall stumble on it. Many shall stumble on it. They
shall fall. They shall be broken. They shall be snared and they
shall be taken. This is a strong warning, I think,
to Isaiah. It’s a good encouragement to
each of us. None of us, not a single one of us, is free from the worries
and cares of this world. They just land on us. The question
is, what do you do with them? Do you take them to Jesus? Do
you take them to the cross? Do you look to the throne of grace?
Do you remember the spiritual realities of the heavenlies that
are absolutely true? And then the things of this world
don’t really bug us all that much. He’s speaking to Isaiah
here and I guess I suppose we could say it to ourselves, quit
being paranoid, right? Quit overthinking the world,
but do think firmly on the character and the actions and the power
and the promises of Almighty God. Fear God, be aware of who
he is, what he has done and what he is doing in this world. So
there’s the taunt where Isaiah says, nanny, nanny, boo, boo,
right to the Assyrians. There’s the warning God gives
to Isaiah. Don’t come unglued like the rest of the people.
Now in verses 16 through 18, we have a little statement of
faith. Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord who
is hiding his face. from the house of Jacob, and
I will hope in him. Behold, I am the children whom
the Lord has given me. They are signs, they are portents
in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. Remember this Isaiah and his
boys, remember the two long name boys, you know, easy prey and
a remnant shall return. I think we’re there. wonderful
God-given names. And so here’s Isaiah living in
the midst of this. And what does he affirm? He affirms
that God is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. Now I suppose
we’re living in a day and time where probably many in the American
church think, you know, we’re, we’re doing really well for the
Lord. Thank you very much. And God, aren’t you lucky to
have us? And I would perhaps think the reality is God is actually
hiding his face from the church in America. because we’ve baptized
the American dream and prosperity and said, oh, this is the new
gospel. Isn’t it wonderful? If you do these things, you’ll
have prosperity and happy, happy, you’ll go to heaven one day.
Well, I think God is rather displeased with that personally. And I think
maybe we’re in a spot like Isaiah mentions here, the Lord is hiding
his face from the house of Jacob. And we think about an election
year and we think about all the things that are upon us. Read
about the little cat fight in the Congress the other night,
how pitiful that thing was. We kind of deserve that, don’t
we? We get what we deserve. And I think some of what we are
facing is judgment from the Lord. But even if it’s dark and crazy,
like perhaps it is now, we can hope in God. And so you have
Isaiah’s statement of faith. Hey, it’s me and my boys and
my wife here, and we’re living in really dark times. And God
is perhaps at a distance because of our sin and our judgment.
But he says very confidently, I will hope in him. I think very
sadly, a lot of Americans are hoping in politics. You know,
you think about 1980s and the moral majority, you think about
the whole, I don’t know, 80s and 90s things. You know, if
we just get the right person in office, our country is going
to get straight. No, it’s not. And how’d that
work out? It didn’t work out. What we really need is the preaching
of the word and gospel change in individual lives. We need
men and women and boys and girls to come to faith in Jesus and
live righteously in an unrighteous world. That’s what will help
politicians, won’t really do much for that. You cannot legislate
morality. You can legislate it, but it
doesn’t necessarily enforce it. Changed hearts by the power of
the Holy Spirit are what we need. But nevertheless, we have the
confident faith of Isaiah. I will hope in God, I and the
children whom the Lord has given me. We’re signs, we’re portents. Now I know these two boys had
these big long names that meant something, but do you ever think
about this? I and my children and my grandchildren,
Or perhaps my church family. We’re a little bitty bright hope
in this dark world. Perhaps you’ve got kids or grandkids
that are doing okay. That’s pretty odd in today’s
world, isn’t it? You go to a restaurant and you
see a family eating and they’re not looking at iPads and iPhones,
but they’re eating together, looking at each other, talking,
and the kids are respectful and the parents are engaged with
their children. Wouldn’t you just about drop your jaw if you
saw that? That’s how bright a spot I think God’s people can be in
this world. And so Isaiah says, I and my
children, whom the Lord has given me, we are signs. And I think
in a small way, we can be a bright hope we can give a little bit
of hope in this lost world. Now, then there’s the issue of
God’s word. Pick up in verse 19, it says,
when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers,
and I love the little onomatopoeia there, who chirp and mutter.
Dead people can’t talk. Mediums don’t know what they’re
talking about. Necromancers are wicked. And all they do is they
chirp and mutter. And besides, it says, should
not a people inquire of their God? He doesn’t chirp and mutter,
he thunders. He doesn’t chirp and mutter,
he speaks with clarity and the world exists. He speaks and upholds
the world. He speaks and new life the dead
receive. You know, We like to inquire,
don’t we, of the mediums and necromancers, and I don’t mean
we’re going to the witches and all the rest, but we pay very
much attention to this world. We pay very much attention to
the pundits who will tell you, dark, dark, dark, bad, bad, bad,
you know, get in your hidey holes, bad things are coming. And God
says, no, live, live, serve, be honorable in this world. Should
not a people inquire of the Lord? Should they inquire of the dead
on behalf of the living? And he says to the teaching,
to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word,
it is because they have no dawn. What happens when a people God’s
people divorce themselves from the word. Haven’t we seen that
in America when the church has declined rapidly as it divorces
itself from the word? This is, well, just started the
other week with the Methodist and, you know, we’re going into
June, the summer annual church meetings, and we’re going to
hear which churches are faithful to God and which ones are straying
more and more and probably perhaps getting more and more apostate
and dark. They quit inquiring of the Lord.
They quit relying on the testimony. They quit going to the teaching. And they do not speak according
to this word and they have no light. They have no dawn. That’s
a good warning. It’s good just to be in a small,
quiet, faithful church that loves the word, lives the word, preaches
and teaches and believes and speaks the word. It may not be
fashionable. It may not be popular. It may
not be cool or whatever, but it works. and God promises to
bless it. And so in the final verses, God
through Isaiah speaks of the distress, the distress of the
people who won’t repent. As I said earlier, you can hear
the footsteps of the Assyrians coming. It’s almost like the,
you know, they get these cicadas and they vibrate and you just
know of their presence. I think if you get towards Mebane
and maybe the Orange County, Durham, Chapel Hill area, you
can hear them more. I think you folks who live in
Graham hear them a bit more than we do this way, but you’re just
never not aware of their presence. And I think the Israelites can
feel the pounding of the sandals of the soldiers of Assyria as
they begin to make their way to the promised land to bring
judgment. And as they pass through the land, this is the people
held captive, they will be greatly distressed and they will be hungry.
And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and they will
speak contemptuously against their king. Remember, was it
the thief on the cross? Remember, it’s others that Jesus
encountered. They spoke ill of God. They spoke
wickedly, even in their hour of torment and death. They will
become enraged, it says. They will speak contemptuously
against their king and their God, and they will turn their
faces upward. They will look on the earth,
but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they
will be thrust into darkness. I think it’s good for us to simply
remember tonight that at the name of Jesus, all our fears
can go away, all our darkness can be dispelled, and all our
hope and all our fears can be relieved because he brings the
reality of the mighty, powerful kingdom of God into our presence
in this life, but also and forever in the life that is to come.
So let’s remember those promises, pray with me. Lord, we thank
you for the name of Christ. We thank you for that name that
charms our fears and bids our sorrows to cease, and so help
us not to forget that. We pray in Christ’s mighty and
sweet and precious name, amen.