AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CHURCH August
16, 2009
A CONTINUATION OF THE THRUST AND BASE OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
OF AUSTRALIA ON BIBLICAL LINES …
Serving the Lord Jesus Christ, Immutable Truth, Beautiful in
Holiness
ALL THINGS OF THE LORD
The Universe, Beginning and End, the People, the Book, and the
Day
Isaiah 33:17-34:17
THE UNIVERSE
God makes Himself very clear in short measure in our text
this morning. We move first through the three phases of Isaiah 34, then back to
the glorious vision of the day of the Lord, in Isaiah 33.
Isaiah 34:1-5 contains an invitation, exhortation: COME and HEAR. To whom is it
addressed ? It is to ALL nations. Whether you are in Latvia, Russia, China, Fiji
or Australia, it is to you that He speaks, for are you not all nations ? and to
the rest no less.
He
speaks to all that is IN the world, which HE put there (Isaiah 44:24-26,
45:12,18), and He did it alone in His trinitarian splendour (Isaiah 48:16), to
establish an everlasting salvation (Isaiah 45:17), focussed in Israel as
redemption drew near, and applied to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6), to as
many as believed Him, and trusted Him, and received Him (Isaiah 53:1, 45:22,
26:4, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Daniel 6:23ff., Psalm 32). Why a salvation ? It was because
man needed it. Why did he need it ? because he fell. How did he fall ? by
ignoring directions and following a very unsublime plot to disconnect from God,
through willfulness and wickedness (Romans 5:1-17). What did it take to redeem
him ? Christ as man, eternal God in flesh.
The Lord speaks not only, however, to all that is in
the world, but to all that comes forth out of it. He speaks to sin
and to the sinner, to those of pure heart and of fouled heart, to false majesty
and true nobility: to all alike. He speaks to the meek, the folding in failure,
to the strong, boastful, to all. He speaks to the pride of this world and to
industry, to its braggadocio and to its children of rest.
To one, to all: for this is nothing too high or to low:
let ALL hear the One who made ALL things, and let the rebels who have come out
of it hear as well as the saints, who trust in Him. For you do not have popes
make saints; for God makes them: and every one who is a true Christian according
to the biblical definition IS a saint
*1 ; so let God's people look like it and smell in their deeds like it, and
regard the Sermon on the Mount as a road, and holiness as its surface (Isaiah
35).
Now
that all nations are listening, the Lord tells them something. HIS INDIGNATION
is AGAINST all nation. That is the first point. Secondly, His FURY is against
all their armies. This comes to quintessence when at the end of the Age, it is
precisely these armies, those of the earth as one, which madly dare to confront
the line up against the Lord. Already, in the fallen Obama*2 administration, there
is such a line-up of dos and don'ts for Israel, that as one writer pointed out,
whatever imperils Israel or makes its security less or fatally small, it is
these things which are being sought (that is Caroline Glick, Deputy managing
editor, the Jerusalem Post, in a startling review, of a highly factual
character, published in Israel My Glory, latest edition).
Even a leader of the Democrats in Congress has warned Obama that his policies
bid fair to alienate New York Jews, and remove their votes from them, and is off
with a party to visit
Israel! And that, it is from the President's own Party!
Indeed, even
Jordan now mouths the idea
of 5 or so million Palestinians invading Israel (not by force, by international
consent, to upset any hope of Jews governing themselves), 'returnees' by some
definition, and Israel
shrinking back to its survival line of 1949. This begins to figure as Genocide
Mark III. Genocide effort Mark I was for centuries zestful in Europe, with
pogroms, discrimination, Inquisition in
Europe. Mark II was the culmination of that in Hitler, and this present move is
by an international consortium approach, now acting blusteringly, since no group
of nations has beaten
Israel at
war, following its climb back from Auschwitz. That is precisely as forecast in
Zechariah 12, and is to culminate in vast conversion in Israel to Christ
(12:10-13:1).
This domineering is indeed, at least in direction, what is
beginning to arise in the Madrid Quartet of this world's greatest powers, EU,
UN,
Russia and USA, in their
depredations in vision, for
Israel.
From them comes this ghastly and injudicious effrontery against the word of the
Lord (Ezekiel 36-37, Deuteronomy 32:17ff., Joel 3, Micah 7) and its clear cut
predictions and promises (cf. Galloping Events
Ch. 4), now seen to rise not least from them, against Israel. So do they
seek to strip it more, even that Israel which for all its sins, God in mercy
restored according to manifest promise (cf.
Israel Vols. 1-4). Later comes a universal attack on
the Lord by ALL nations (Rev. 19:19). That is awaits; but this, for Israel,
looms as a beginning of the end, itself marked by Israel's return to Jerusalem
(Luke 21:24). When that occurs, Jesus Christ indicated, the end of the Age is
near.
It
is, accordingly, to ALL nations, God speaks in Isaiah 34, all who now in this
way and now in that dare to meddle with the mercies of God and to dispute His
sovereignty. Let them beware! Consider this in the prophetic way of speaking of
their armies: "He has utterly destroyed them"
and then compare this with Revelation 19:16-20 and tremble; for the fear of God
is a pure fear, and folly gets its come-uppance not only from time to time, but
at last and altogether. "Utter destruction" is
the end of that, which comes at the culminating confrontation of rebellious man
with God.
Has
not mercy for this world operated in the two millenia of the Gospel Age ? But it
does not last forever; for man is not able to strive forever (Isaiah 57:15-16).
Accordingly, the end comes, as did the beginning, from Him who is both Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:11,18, 2:9, Isaiah 44:1-6). Put
your skunk spray in the face of the Lord and your own reeking may reprove you.
The face brings mercy; its rejection brings guilt’s own reward.
That is not all. This earth and this universe is a stage
for actors, a giant laboratory, an amazing construction, constricted into stars
and planets, amassed in atoms, with myriads of molecules, planted with spirits,
filled with mankind and his ways. Filled ? yes and that near to surfeit; for
amid mankind is a tyranny of mischiefs; for though he started as a triumph of
majesty in creation, his fall is bondage, and often becomes bombast against the
Lord. Yet the divine majesty continues, as of a Father; for man is yet invited
to seek the Lord, if only in His mercy; for He still lives and loves, and
appeals and offers and redeems and speaks peace and pardon where His redemption
(Isaiah 52-55) is applied. He speaks thus for long; but not for ever to the
recalcitrant.
What then happens to the stage, this earth, this tumbling, turmoiled world and
its stars ? It is taken down, just as the Sunday School anniversary stages used
to be, as Motor Racing Stages are in Adelaide, when international motor sports
finish each year at the present time. WHY is it taken down ? Of course, as with
the rest, when the ACTION is over, that is when.
To
what extent is it the case of this universe which the Lord has made ?
To this extent:
"All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll."
That is not all.
This earth and this universe is a stage, a giant laboratory, an amazing
construction, constricted into stars and planets, amassed in atoms, with myriads
of molecules, filled with mankind and his ways, yes and to surfeit, a tyranny of
mischiefs which started as a triumph of majesty; and that majesty continues, for
man is yet able to seek the Lord, if only in His mercy; yet He still lives and
loves, and appeals and offers and redeems and speaks peace and pardon where His
redemption (Isaiah 52-55) is applied. He speaks thus for long, but not for ever
for the recalcitrant.
What then happens to the stage of action, the performance place ? It is taken
down, just as the Sunday School anniversary stages used to be, as Motor Racing
Stages are in Adelaide, when international motor sports finish each year at the
present time. WHY is it taken down ? Of course, as with the rest, when the
ACTION is over, that is when.
To what extent in
the case of this universe which the Lord has made ?
To this extent:
"All
the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll."
It will be like
fruit falling from the tree (cf. II Peter 3, which not only tells the same
account but notes that it will come at the end of the Age, in which many will
seek to deny the last, vast devastation, the universal flood which struck the
earth with such amazingly attested piles of many metres of internationally
gathered rubbish, and look to a universe conveniently continuing for their
pleasure, but this in vain!).
In
Isaiah 34:5ff., we see that the Lord now
applies to the Age of Isaiah, His intention regarding one nation. It is Edom,
which may be regarded as an area between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of
Aqabah, reputedly about 100 miles long and 40 wide, which contained. Bozrah is
to be desolate (and so it was), and
Petra, capital of the land with the Edomites and the Nabataeans who utterly
displaced them, likewise; and what a desolation it is, a tourist marvel.
THE PEOPLE OF THE LORD
WHY is this
exemplary penalty given to Edom ?
"It is the day of the LORD's vengeance, the year of recompense for
the cause of Zion."
Obadiah spells out
in more detail the offence of Edom, gloatingly attacking despoiled Jerusalem
when it suffered! The same medicine was given Babylon for a similar reason! and
with a similar, desolatory result! (Jeremiah 51:35ff.). Is the US to join in
this macabre band ? May it not be! Yet here is the Obama administration telling
Israel who may and who may not build in JERUSALEM!
Jerusalem, retorted Israel's PM
Netanyahu, is NOT a settlement! It is not a case of this or that new site in the
West Bank: it is the capital of
Israel.
So is the US being
skewed as it moves into dangerous waters, as earlier, when one warned of the high risk
situation of too much indifference, a month or so before the Twin
Tower catastrophe (Lord of
Life
Ch. 3). It is because the Lord is wise and gracious that many imagine He
does not really MEAN what He says; but when man absconds, his soul far from
mercies, judgment supervenes at length. Edom and Babylon are desolate
testimonies to that! Who would want more!
It must of course
be made clear that the term ‘people of the Lord’, has two applications. First,
it is Israel by original choice through Abraham with many unconditional promises
given them, of blessing and cursing (Deuteronomy 28-32), of dispersion if they
continued gambolling about without God, of restoration in any case, and of
massive return to faith once back in the land finally (Zechariah 12-13:1, Romans
11), on the part of many, before Christ Himself returns to this world to rule
it: that is one part of the matter.
SINCE they crucified Christ (with Rome's help), they have defiled their
relationship with God, inherited the curse and while yet given the promises and
so returned, they are not now the spiritual people given by God the place of
children of His and friends; for these have the new name (Isaiah 62) of Christ's
ones or Christians. That is the other use of the phrase:
those at the present time in this blessed relationship as children of God, taken
jointly as His people, those redeemed and trusting in Him through free grace and
the gift of eternal life (Romans 3:23ff., Isaiah 55, Ephesians 2, 4)..
Many of Israel
will soon join them on the same basis of the same Jesus Christ (Romans 11). To
both promises apply; but to neither is there eternal life except by the
crucified Messiah, for millenia foretold, and never to be retracted, nor will
His path be retraced (Galatians 1:6-9). It is He who though killed in hate, rose
in realisation of love and mercy, for those who receive Him from whatever race.
THE BOOK OF THE LORD
Isaiah 34:15-17
ends the solemn judgment. Just as every wild creature to inhabit the ruins of
Edom will NOT LACK ITS MATE, SO if you seek out of the Book of the Lord, you
will find that this is always so, all the words are fulfilled in this way, all
the things described will be there as stated, and the words themselves which say
so, these too will be kept, each with each concerning what is to be. NONE WILL
FAIL! we read. WHY is this so ? The reason is near and clear:
"For My
mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them."
Isaiah moves from
word to Spirit, in the latter case making doubly sure there be no
misunderstanding: GOD has SAID, and despite Satan's epochal trick in Eden, it
WILL BE, and the Spirit of God Himself has assigned each of these words to its
mate, the syntax, semantics, the message, the data, the detail on HIS name! You
have just this emphasis from Christ in Matthew 5:17-20.
THE DAY OF THE LORD
Finally, we come
to the day of the Lord. Introduced by Isaiah 34:17, flowers in the power of
Christ in Isaiah 35, His miracles wrought as only He can there depicted, and
continues into the day of His Church, with the highway of holiness available to
one and to all, for in Him the Gentiles shall find resting place, and shall
glory (Isaiah 11:10, 14ff., 49:6, 42:6, 44:3ff., Jeremiah 16:19ff.). After the ruin of confrontation, comes the rule of
consummation, culminating in the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7), whose right it
is (Ezekiel 21:27), without whom all is overthrown, as it flusters this way and
that, till its emptiness echoes like an empty flask, and its wrongful spirits
stumble like sots.
You see
a pictorial depiction of this,
before our current Chapter 34, in 33:17-24, one of the most beautiful not to say
beatific passages in the Bible. The time is coming when Jerusalem will no longer
be a place of appalling hypocrisy as then (Isaiah 1, 29), and failure (Jeremiah 5,9), but of
peace so profound that terror is but a memory. Here is to be found an
irremovable temple, even Jesus Christ (Isaiah 4:6 with 32:1-4, 53-55), with an
immutable Gospel (as in Isaiah 55), freely available, focussing
"The LORD our Lawgiver" and "the LORD our King: He will save us."
Health will abound
in peace, and pardon in faith's blessing. Here now the place of war becomes a
site for peace, and the Majestic Lord will replace the striving terrors of enemy
errors, be they in judgment or in wilful thrust. As to aggressors, viewed as
ships, "they could not strength their masts",
and "the lame take the prey" for at last the
folly of Nietzsche, mocker of humility, meekness and grace, is excluded and
Darwinian echoes of the same recipe for ruin, empty of truth, pregnant with
abortive results, are finished. Man in meekness seeks the Lord, and in this the
Gentiles will rejoice, one Lord and one King (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, Deuteronomy
32:43, Romans 11). Jew and Gentile alike, now joined as one (Romans 11) in
a profundity of unity in the Christ ready to save in any place and any heart,
might to save (Isaiah 63), whose love is like a mighty river that brings life
(Ezekiel 47) and who would have all to be reconciled to God (Colossians 1:19ff.,
I Timothy 2, Ezekiel 33:11). Israel in its remnant, so vastly swept in one
glorious current (Zechariah 12:10-13:1 with Ezekiel 39:21-29) will when that day
of the Gospel (Isaiah 52-55) is done, be ruled direct by the resident Lord on
whose Return (Revelation 19-20), the millenium thrives (Psalm 72, Micah 4).
He
who is mighty to save will have those who are His own when He pleases, these
being foreknown. Then a final lust (Revelation 20) brings a final dismissal of
evil, evil which remans its own inveterate self, whether well-nourished in peace
as here (Isaiah 26:10) or in distress, and indeed a dispelling of the universe
itself; for a new heavens and a new earth now replace the stresses of the
testing pad, that old earth and world which passes into history.
Here past things no
longer to weigh (Revelation 21:4), but in the past, weighty things were
done, lessons shown to eternity from the world that was and now is past:
knowledge ready for display forever (cf. Ephesians 3:8ff.). Not only has God
authority, but truth; not only does He seek, but for what He seeks, it is found
in truth; not only is His peace, but there is none other; and not only is there
a preternatural joy in Him, but it is natural to man so to live (John 16:22, I
Thessalonians 5:16, Philippians 4:4); and now His people are restored to the
image of Him who first created man (Colossian 3:9).
It is ALL of the
Lord:
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the creation,
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the redemption,
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the sending of the Word of God
(Isaiah 48:16),
to become
the living Temple (Isaiah 4:6 with 32:1-4, 49:2ff., 51:16 cf. Revelation
21:22),
this same Jesus Christ, this with
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the restoration of Israel in vast measure, both
to its land and to its Lord
(Micah 7, Zech. 12-13, Ezekiel 36-39, Hosea 1-3, Deuteronomy 32),
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oneness with Gentile Christians
(Romans 11),
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peace in the place
of Christ's death and resurrection, Jerusalem as in the hearts that are His,
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disenfranchisement of enemies in their
squalid hatred, and
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a peace that passes all understanding,
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before the universe
gone, this newness has its own new heavens and earth
(II Peter 3, Isaiah 65, Revelation 21).
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With such a prospect, let
those who are the Lord's say so, and let those who love Him act so, and let the
universe and its unruly battalions, acknowledge it, for then they will have no
further option. Praise the Lord.
*1
Note re 'saints':
See Roman 1:7, I Corinthians 1:2, II Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, Philippians
1:1. The term is used interchangeably with true Christians, not hand-picked
spiritual icons.
In Philippians, after the saints, Paul mentions the bishops and deacons, so
making the complement of the Church to whom he speaks. People like Judas, though
ostensibly at the first, sanctified in Christ, were not so (in fact Judas was
known as a devil - John 6:70). Formalists in the first place, not the faithful,
they did not end as what they never were, and so are not ones 'sanctified in
Christ' (I Cor. 1:2).
The scriptural practice in addressing the churches is to exclude the
unwarranted, the unworthy, the hypocrites from the whole, as one picks off
specks from a bun that fell; not to elevate any to a special sanctity which is
the place for all: though none is perfected here. All are similarly called
in one body (I Corinthians 6:11, 12:13, Philippians 3:12). What manner of
persons then ought we to be, as Peter exhorts us, "in holy
conduct and godliness" (I Peter 1:14); for our God is a consuming fire,
and though His mercy keeps His own to the end (I Peter 1:5-8, Ephesians 1:11),
those who are His KNOW Him, and receive His effectual help and presence. In
mercy indeed, the righteous, though he fall seven times, is yet upheld by the
Lord (Proverbs 24:16). Those whom He justified (Romans 5:1, 3:23ff., Titus
3:3-7), these He also will glorify (Romans 8:17,29-30).
*2 For Obama's religious
failure in the Cairo speech in particular, see
The Unsearchable Riches of Jesus Christ
and the Aggregating Debt of Dismissal ...
Chs. 3,
4 and
God's Gift of Grace in Christ Jesus
...Ch. 3.