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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.
Judgment, Mourning, and Hope
Series Isaiah
| Sermon ID | 1017131047239 |
| Duration | 36:50 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Isaiah 23:1 |
| Language | English |
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