Isaiah 24, the entire chapter. Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants, and the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken His word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns, the vine decays, all the merry-hearted sigh. The gaiety of tambourines ceases, the noises of revelers stops, the gaiety of the harp ceases. They do not drink wine with song, strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of chaos is broken down, every house is shut up so that none may enter. There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine, all joy turns to gloom, the gaiety of the earth is vanished. Desolation is left in the city and the gate is battered to ruins. For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, all the shaking of an olive tree, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. They raise their voices, shout for joy. They cry out from the West concerning the majesty of the Lord. Therefore, glorify the Lord in the East, the name of the Lord, the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. from the ends of the earth we hear songs, glory to the righteous one, but I say woe to me, woe to me, alas for me the treacherous deal treacherously and the treacherous deal very treacherously. Tear and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the windows above are opened and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently, the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen in that day that the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon and will be confined in prison, and after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders. Remember, this morning we're going to be considering chapter 23 and 24. For many years, movies, books, TV shows, short stories, you name the medium and the genre, They've all asked us, at one time or another, to think about the apocalypse. What would life be like without creature comforts, power grids, water sources, food sources? What would it be like if, in some way or another, those things and more were cut off? And, you know, those scenarios always seem to have an audience. Maybe we're drawn to what we fear. Maybe we're fascinated by the unknown. But lay the apocalypse aside for a minute, and we'll take it up again, but lay it aside for just a minute. What about the collapse of a nation or a society? You know, it's difficult enough to imagine an apocalypse, but it's not much easier to imagine the collapse of a society or a city or even a country. Isn't it? I mean, think about it, how is it possible when you've never experienced it to imagine a country or at least its main centers of political and financial power eliminated or at least eclipsed for some time? You know, our lives in the main are steady. and the structures that support our lives are in the main steady and even though there are some predictable elements or rather unpredictable elements about our economic future as long as there are flows with the ebbs it's hard to imagine a collapsed, a literally collapsed society because we have a tendency to focus on the flows rather than the ebbs Perhaps we might say that 9-11, about 11 years ago, is the closest that many of us have come in our lifetime to experiencing the chaotic and catastrophic effects of terrorist-driven attacks that sought to leave our nation paralyzed, both politically and financially. But as horrific as something like that was, and it was horrific, can you imagine the entire loss of both New York City and Washington D.C.? You know, I think it might be similar to the loss of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, which led just days afterward to Japan's surrender. And you know, what was interesting was the Allies knew how devastating that news would be if it reached all of Japan. And so immediately upon taking the country, they seized the media sources to limit that kind of information going out to all the countries. Can you imagine the panic that destruction like that would engender among a nation? You know, I'll never forget, I don't know about you, but it's been 11 years, but I still remember what I was doing, I still remember many details of the day, and I remember the panic in the voices of the reporters as they watched the second plane hit the South Tower. It was a realization that this is no longer, this can no longer be considered an air traffic control problem. They had the sense that we were under attack and you could hear it in their voices. Well, this morning we're going to read and study something that's beyond our experience. We're not only going to encounter a collapsed society, but we're going to witness the apocalypse. A vision of world judgment. And who, I want to say, is sufficient for these things? But I do want to say this, and here really is the grace of God in the way that this book is outlined for us, or at least set up. The first is going to help us to frame the second. In other words, there are similarities between the fall of Tyre and the judgment that will come upon the earth. And so the fall of Tyre is going to help us view the judgment that will come upon the world. And so with those opening comments, and that is our background, I want us to think for a few minutes about how the destruction of this city, the city of Tyre, helps us to get a perspective on God's future judgment that will come upon the whole earth. And I want us to see, even in this passage, the hope that there is even in the darkest hour. And so, with that in mind, let's turn to our text. And the first thing that I want us to notice is this. I want you to notice that the end is often foretold in the past. History is not cyclical. It's not like the ancient thought, it's not like a dog chasing its tail, simply a meaningless repetition of events, nor is it simply linear, though it does have a telos, or a purpose, or an aim, a goal, an end in mind. History, at least in terms of a model, ought to be thought of in terms of a spiral. In other words, like a spiral, there is a point to which everything moves. There's an aim, there's a telos, there's a goal. But the model of the spiral helps us, gives us the opportunity to say not, I've seen this exact event before, like the cyclical view, Rather, it enables us to see things today that were similar to things in the past. Which is why we can talk about learning from the past. But not only can we learn from the past, there is a sense in which we can say that the end is foreshadowed in the events of the past. And this is especially true when God is our guide when we're walking through the halls of history. And that's exactly what we're doing in these chapters. In these chapters, God, by his prophet, is reaching into the last days. And He's calling us to follow Him into the uncharted territory of the future. Now, for us, not for God, for us, this is a shadowy land. It's often difficult in that land to separate one event from another. It's distant, remote, and yet it feels both familiar and strange at the same time. which is why there's always the danger of committing various historical fallacies when we move from the past to the present and especially into the future. But again, that's why it's important to remember that in the scriptures God is infallibly guiding us from the present of the prophet into the future. We have an infallible guide with us. God is leading us. And so the first thing that we learn is that God is the omnipotent sovereign of all history. God is the omnipotent sovereign over all history, no matter the era, no matter the event, whether it's personal or trivial or grand and world-affecting, God is sovereign over all. Now, I want you to look at the text. Tyre would fall. And once again, we find the prophet using that prophetic perfect. He's writing about the future as though it were already the present. Tyre, in other words, was as good as dead. And the fall was palpable. Why? Verse 3 tells us Tyre was the market of the nations. And there is an absolutely striking passage in Ezekiel 24, and I want you to go there for just a minute. Go to Ezekiel 27, rather. In Ezekiel 27, verse 12, we find this remarkable passage that explains to us the influence of tire in the world. In verse 12, I'm not going to read all of it, I'm just going to read a bit of it to give you a sense of it. Tarshish was your customer because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth with silver, iron, tin, lead. They paid for your wares. Jabin, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traders. With the lives of men and vessels of bronze, they paid for your merchandise. Those from Beth to Garmara gave horses and war horses and mules for your wares. The sons of Dedan were your traders. Many coastlands were your market. Ivory tux, tusks, and ebony they brought as your payment. Arum was your customer because of the abundance of your good. They paid for your wares with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies. And you see, one nation after another is mentioned as being the customer of Tyre. They were the market of the nations. And what we have here in this passage in Isaiah is an abbreviated edition of what we find in Ezekiel 27. Egypt counted on the markets of Tyre. The ships of Tarshish were an ancient fleet of merchants. They counted on the markets of Tyre. Now the interesting thing is that the ships of Tarshish would come and they would come across the Mediterranean and what would happen was they would usually stop at Cyprus. And Cyprus was sort of that mark where you knew you were getting close. And when the ships of Tarsus stopped at Cyprus, that's where they heard the news. That's where they heard the news about Tyre. And their reaction to her fall was disbelief. And it was anguish in Egypt. The city of commerce, the city whose merchants were princes and their traders were honored on the earth. The city who colonized faraway lands, not by military might, mind you, but because of her commerce. She, this jubilant city, had fallen. And you know, the question is, how in the world can a city like this one fall? But she's so admired and loved by the nations because they are gaining wealth through her. How could such a strategic, commercially strong city, a city loved by the nations, how could it have fallen? You know, sometimes I'll ask my daughter, where did you get those beautiful brown eyes? And she'll look at me as if to say, Daddy, you should know this by now. Aren't you old enough to know that I got them from God? You know, that's what she'll say. She'll go, God, you know, and she's right. Now, if she were a college biology major, she might have said, Dad, I received the dominant gene for brown eyes. And again, she would be correct. And that's the way in which Isaiah answers our question. Look at verse 8, who planned this against Tyre? And verse 9, the Lord of hosts has planned it. Verse 11, he has stretched his hand out over the sea and again the Lord has given the command. Clearly, Tyre's undoing was from the Lord and it would have been perfectly correct and it is perfectly correct for Isaiah to say, God But notice something else, verse 13 mentions two nations, Babylon and Assyria, both of which laid siege to Tyre before it was completely destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The point is not to trace the exact chronological fall of Tyre. The point is to say, God brings about his plan through his ordained instruments. In this case, the nations. And you remember what he said about Assyria in chapter 10. He said this, God said this, Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and the staff in whose hands is my indignation. God is the sovereign Lord and He wields the nations as His weapons. Proverbs says that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and He directs it like a water course. Daniel chapter 2 says He establishes nations and He removes kingdoms. Now I want you to know something. What was true for Tyre will be no less true in the end. The God who is in control of the past, who is in control of the present, is also in control of the future. And when Isaiah records the judgment that will come upon the earth in chapter 24, I want you to notice what he says in verse 1. Behold, the Lord lays the earth to waste, devastates it. distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And then verse three, the earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled for the Lord has spoken this word. Now, I want you to think about it for a minute. To say that God brought the destruction on Tyre to pass doesn't really tell us why he brought it to pass. We say, for example, God in his providence brought about the destruction of Tyre. But wouldn't we also say, if Tyre had not been destroyed, God preserved Tyre in his providence. So, providence is absolutely true. But Providence really doesn't provide an explanation for events. What it does provide is comfort. Providence provides comfort. Why? Because God is in control. Nothing comes to pass that is out of His control. Providence provides comfort. But it really doesn't satisfy us in terms of the why question. So why was Tyre judged and why will the world be judged? Are we told? And the answer is yes. Remember, God is our infallible guide as we walk through these particular halls of history, as we see them in the scripture. So what was the cause of Tyre's fall? Why did the Lord take them down, as it were? You know, as I prepared to preach this message, I've been struck by something. Many commentators and scholars answer this question by saying that it was the materialism that was at the root of Tyre's downfall. Amos 1.9 seems to indicate that Tyre was willing to betray the covenant of friendship to turn a deal, to make a buck. They were materialists par excellence. How can you argue with that? How can you argue with that? Ezekiel 27 seems to indicate it. So you can see why scholars say things like that. But that's not right. At least it's not the whole truth. There's something deeper that's at root. And the answer is not materialism. But if that's not it, then what? The answer is pride. Pride. Now that's not to say that the two are unrelated. They're not inherently related, but what unites them is the chord of self-absorption. In other words, when we begin to think of the gifts that God gives as though we had earned them or deserved them, that is to say, when the spirit of Babylon takes root in our lives or takes root in our country, that's when one leads to the other. But pride is the problem. Look at 23.9. The Lord of hosts planned it to defile the pride of all beauty to despise all the honored of the earth. You know, the Lord's talking about Tyre here. Listen to what he says in Ezekiel 27, 3. Oh, Tyre, you have said I am perfect in beauty. What does our text say again? 23, 9. The Lord of hosts planned it to defile the pride of all beauty. Now, the scriptures are clear. God hates pride. That was the problem with Israel. We saw it in 9-9. It's the problem with the world. We saw that in 10-12. Judah was following along with the world. And God hates sinful pride because it's rebellious at its core. That's why Tyre fell. And that's why the world will be judged in the end. I want you to look at 24, 4-5. In the end it says this, the earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers. And here it is, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The exalted of the people, that is to say, the pride-filled people of the earth have become rebellious. They're covenant breakers. They're self-absorbed and they're focused on an inflated view of their own abilities. In other words, we can say it like this, it's all about them, at least that's what they think. It's all about me. Now here's the lesson in this. The judgment on Tyre and the judgment on the world are brought about by the same thing, human pride. Man is a self-absorbed rebel. He's a rebellious covenant breaker. That was one of the charges against him, you remember. He had broken the everlasting covenant. Cornelius Antilles used to say that there are only two classes of people. There are covenant breakers and there are covenant keepers. And what was happening in Tyre to covenant breakers was a glimpse of what was in store for all covenant breakers in the end. I want you to look at the opening of chapter 24 and you'll see the comprehensive view of these covenant breakers. There were people and priests, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, creditors and debtors. All were intoxicated with the wine of self. I mean, if you read this passage and you move through it, you find that there's this heavy emphasis on self trying to experience joy, and they're trying to get it through alternate means. Of course, the Prophet It's talking about covenant breakers who are intoxicated with the wine itself. Now, notice the sheer number. Notice the sheer number of those under the influence of self at the end. Look at 2419. This is a powerful image. The earth is broken asunder. The earth is split through. The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack. For its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall never to rise again." Now, of course, the prophet is not talking about the earth. The earth will be preserved because God will preserve it. What's being spoken of here, those who will not rise, are the covenant breakers who weigh the earth down, causing it to stagger to and fro. The imagery is as staggering as it is true. The earth will totter like a shack because of the sins that are heavy upon it. Now, I need to ask you something. I need to ask you something this morning. Are you one of those covenant breakers whose sins have not been atoned for by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are your sins part of the weight that causes the earth to totter to and fro and to reel like a drunken man? You know, this morning I want to ask you a question. I want you to ask yourself, have I trusted Christ for salvation, or am I depending on my own efforts to be right in the eyes of God? Is what I'm doing this morning because I've always done it, because of what I've been raised to do, or have I trusted in the promises of God expressed in Jesus Christ? You know, often young boys and girls don't think much about their sinfulness. They think about their wants and their desires. They're self-absorbed. And boys grow into men and girls grow into women, and as they grow, self-absorption leads them to put a misplaced emphasis in their own abilities, to have a confidence in themselves that's unwarranted. They believe themselves to be more than they are. Do you believe yourself to be more than you are this morning? Now, perhaps you realize what I'm getting at. And perhaps you're thinking to yourself, I haven't trusted in Christ. What will become of me? Will I be like one of these people? who go down to the pit and are ultimately judged. Is that what's in store for me? Well, I want you to know something this morning. If you have come to that realization, I want you to know that there is hope in the text, and that leads to the second point. Future hope is a present comfort. Future hope is a present comfort. Notice chapter 23 and verse 15 and following. The Lord tells us through His prophet that between the days of Sennacherib and the decline of Assyria, Tyre would be eclipsed. Her influence would be at an end. But after this time, there seems to be something of a renewal in Tyre. The Lord will visit Tyre. Or we might say, the Lord will restore Tyre. And what we see is really an amazing thing. When Israel is released from her captivity, Tyre, as she did in the days of David and Solomon, helps the released captives build the temple. Or rebuild the temple, I should say. Look at Ezra 3.7 or at least jot it down. I'll read it to you. It says, Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission that they had from Cyprus, king of Persia. And as wonderful as this is, it's only the beginning. These Tyrians who would supply cedar for the physical temple. The text says that they would be set apart to the Lord. We might think of it in this way. Tyrians would be part of the living stones of the living temple made by Christ himself. At this time, her wealth wouldn't be hoarded, but would be used to bless those who stand in the presence of the Lord. What do we have here? We have a prophecy concerning Tyre's future turn. Their help in rebuilding the temple after the return would only be a foretaste of better things. That is to say, this nation that lived in darkness would see a great light. Now, here's the question. When would that happen? It would happen when Christ went to the cross. Because on the cross, Christ bound the strong man. He bound Satan. For what purpose? Revelation 20 says, so that Satan would no longer be able to deceive the nations. I want you to think about it for a minute. Think about the Old Testament. The nations are deceived en masse. They're turning everywhere for help, but to the Lord. Satan has deceived them. But when Christ came, He bound the strong men, He subdued Satan, for what purpose? So that Satan could no longer deceive the nations, and so that the gospel would go forth. and convert the nations. And what was the result? Well, for Tyre, look at Mark's Gospel as a start. In chapter 3, verse 7, we find that Christ was in a number of places. Tyre and Sidon were among them. And the text says that a great number of people heard Him and came to Him. In 724 of Mark's Gospel, we're told that Jesus retired to a place in Tyre. He retired there for rest. He didn't want anyone to know about it. But he couldn't escape notice. And this is where the woman of Tyre comes to him because her daughter is demon-possessed. And she says, help my daughter. And he says, it's not right for me to give bread from the table to the dogs. And she says, count me a dog then and give me the crumbs. This woman of Tyre understood the gospel. She recognized Christ. This was a fulfillment of what was foretold in Isaiah. And in Acts 11, 19, after the death of Steve and persecution, scattered believers and some made their way to Phoenicia. That's the region of Tyre. And what did they do? They preached Christ wherever they went. And again, what was the result? Well, when Paul was traveling back to Jerusalem in order to take famine relief money to Jerusalem, he sailed to Sidon and Tyre. Why? Because there was a church there. And that says He looked up the believers who were there and He stayed with them seven days. My point is this. Isaiah tells us that these days were coming. And for the people of Tyre, those days had arrived in the coming of Christ. Now this means that the remnant of the nations in chapter 24 includes people of Tyre. Christ, who spoke to the Tyrians, still speaks today. His Word is the same. His message is the same. The salvation He offers is the same. And the beautiful thing about it is this. Satan has been subdued for a time so that he can no longer deceive the nations. The Gospel is going forth. Now, I want you to think about this for a minute. Let's come down and just think about something in this text for a minute. I don't know about you, but when I read and meditate on the things that I find in chapter 24, in the worst part of me I'm frightened. Because the earth will be so saturated with the transgressions of sinners, that it will heave to and fro like a drunken man. I don't know about you, but that's a bit intimidating. To think about living in a world so saturated with sin that God would describe it in such a way as that. And you know, I think that we're supposed to catch a glimpse of what Judah was experiencing as they lived in a world that failed to trust in the Lord. And they were tempted to not trust in the Lord. And as we read Revelation, there's going to be a time when Satan is going to be released and he's going to be allowed to deceive the nations once again. And this appears to be that time when the world will be deceived. And it will be heavy with transgression. And again, I don't know about you, but in the worst part of me, that frightens me. It's intimidating. But here is the hope. The gospel will still be in the world. And it will be counted foolishness among the majority of people. But it is the wisdom of God. And the Lord who subdued Satan so that he could no longer deceive the nations is the same Lord who subdued the Tyrians. And this sovereign God is able to subdue the hearts of men and women. And he's able to subdue the hearts of men and women today. And the question for us is this. In a day like today, it's very simple. It's very simple. And as we progress into the future, it will be very simple to put our eyes on places where we think we can trust. Places where we feel like we have physical stability. Places where we feel like we have economic security. Places where we feel like we have a sure place to stand with good help beside us. And I want you to know that if that's the position we find ourselves in today, or tomorrow, or any time in the future, we have landed exactly where the Judeans have landed. And our eyes are not on the sovereign Christ who's seated as King above the nations. They are fixed on other things that will certainly slide out from under our feet. And this text is a call for us to have our eyes fixed in the right place. We're to have our eyes fixed upon King Jesus, who is even now the sovereign Lord ruling. Heavenly Father, thank you for the day that you've given to us, for the text of Scripture that we have before us, for the hope that's in it. We pray that our eyes would be steadfastly driven to Christ, even in days of such turmoil as are explained in chapter 24. Forgive us when we fail. Steady us when we feel as though we're tottering, and give us eyes that are fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for we ask these things in His name. Amen. Please turn to page 46B of the response to the treatment of Dr. Wood, page 46B.