Romans 9. The wonderful doctrine of predestination

Romans 9

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Predestination. A doctrine that makes some people very angry, and others of us confused and worried. But it is a doctrine that is of great comfort and should bring us great joy!

How do I know I’m saved? Because God has chosen you and his mercy is upon you like it was on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same promises are ours in Christ.

I know from personal experience that this passage can be difficult. But I hope it will also be deeply encouraging as we see how great and powerful and scary and full of mercy our God is!

Three points tonight:

1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not

2. I did not save myself – God did.

3. The difficult and wonderful doctrine of predestination

1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not

9:1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

Paul’s desire is for the Jews to be saved. But he knows that even if he offered to be cut off forever – such a dramatic gesture – that would not be enough. Only God can save. And Paul must himself bow the knee before God’s sovereign rule.

You can feel the passion. The anguish for his people. Especially when he reminds us that everything that now belongs to the Christian, as he’s shown us in the past few chapters, used to belong to Israel.

4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

That’s what we have in Christ. All that was Israel’s is ours. The covenants, his glory, and adopted as His children – all ours in Christ. And so we worship him. In Christ we are God’s people.

5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

Look at all that they had. But Paul’s heart is broken because they have thrown it all away. They have stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone. They rejected him and they have fallen.

Being Jewish is not enough. It is Christ and faith in him that is required, not your bloodline.

But this throws up a question in our mind: if the Jews had all these promises before me, but the gospel now says they don’t apply to them anymore, but to me – how do I know that the same won’t happen to me?

If God’s people, the Jews, have been rejected by God… can I trust God?

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel?

And the answer is simple: 6 No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

Throughout the Bible there is Israel – those born a Jew - and then there is a smaller group: True Israel or the “remnant”. And the Holy Spirit now shows us through Paul’s words that the remnant or True Israel were those chosen by God. This has always been the case, and still is. If you are chosen by God his wonderful promises apply to you, and nothing you do can change that. His favour rests upon you like it did upon Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

But if you are not chosen, then everything you do will lead you away from God and confirm your hardness of heart.

Remember what we have already learnt: We all are sinners without hope. All in Adam. No-one does good, not even one. Condemned. There is no way for us to save ourselves. Morality judges us. The law condemns us. We’re in trouble. Hard heart. We are the source of our condemnation. We do not choose God. We choose, in a sense, hell. That’s what the Jews are doing and Paul is grieving. They reject Jesus, God’s righteousness, and try to earn their own righteousness. And so they stumble.

But, oh glory!, remember 3:21 But now a righteousness FROM God is revealed in Christ. God is the source of salvation. And His Spirit brings new life, new life from within. Not by doing good deeds, not by following the law, but by trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection on the Cross. And tonight’s passage shows that faith comes not from within, but from God’s choice to include us in the promise. And so now there is no condemnation, we are God’s children, we are heirs, and nothing can separate us from God’s love because his promise stands.

We know this, and it brings us unspeakable joy. But it does mean that we cannot MAKE those we love accept the Lord, and we cannot MAKE the Lord accept them either. Even if we were to be cut off for their sake – it would make no difference. We have to simply trust God.

I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not.

2. I did not save myself – God did.

15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

This is the one point that tonight’s passage is making: Salvation is God’s domain. Salvation is God’s domain. We can no more choose it or work for it than a dead person can choose it or work for it. Without Christ we are spiritually dead. And it is God who raises us to life.

And this has always been the case. Just like in chapter 4 we are reminded that salvation has always been through faith – Abraham believed God and God credited to him as righteousness – now we are reminded that God’s word has all along promised salvation only to those whom God sovereignly chose. And the Holy Spirit through Paul uses two examples from Israel’s history to show that belonging to God’s people depends not on birth or on anything a person does, but on God’s call.

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

The word translated “counted” is kaleo and means named or called, and is key to this section. It is the same word in v12 “he calls people” and in v24 we are among those whom he selected and v26 “there they will be called ‘children of the living God’”

A call is not an invitation. An invitation is “Would you like to come?”. A call is “Come here”. An invitation is your friend saying “Do you want to come to my house after school”. A call is your Dad saying “Come here we need to talk”!
In salvation God does not invite. God calls. He compels.

7b For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac.

Do you see the point Paul is making? As God called only some from among Abraham’s descendants to be his people (6b–13), so now he calls even some Gentiles (v24 Those not my people I will now call my people) and the remnant of the Jews 27 Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. That’s the argument. God has always sovereignly chosen some to be saved, some to be “of the promise” and others not. Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac. But Isaac was the son of the promise, not Ishmael.

10 When he (Isaac) married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

Can we be sure we are saved? Yes. If God has chosen us, then we are saved, as surely as he chose Isaac and Jacob. If His favour rests upon you then your calling and election is sure. Your good or bad works matter nothing – what matters is the purposes of God.

And this is always the way God has worked. He has not been unfaithful to Israel because he had always made clear that a remnant would be saved, not every Israelite. That is, the mark of salvation was faith in God’s word, and the obedient life that followed from that, not being born a Jew.
Same as being born to Christian parents is not a mark of salvation. I needed to be born again by the Spirit of God. I was called by God out of darkness and into the light. I was on my way to abandoning the faith my parents held. I was following my heart into the darkness. My birth counted for nothing. What counts is God’s mercy.

I did not save myself, God did. You did not save yourself, God did. And if you think you saved yourself, then there is a very real danger that you are not saved. Because that’s what Romans 1-8 has shown us. There is no-one righteous. No-one seeks God, not even one. Not even you. Not until the Spirit breathes life into you.
By the way, if you’re thinking “but I’m seeking God” then praise God, because that means the Spirit is at work in you!

I did not save myself, no more than Isaac chose himself to be the son of the promise, or Jacob chose himself to be greater than his twin brother Esau. I did not save myself – God did.

And that’s what we call predestination or election. That God is sovereign over salvation.

3. The wonderful doctrine of predestination

What is predestination? Article 17 of the 39 articles of faith of the Church of England defines it like this:

Predestination to life belongs to God’s everlasting purpose. Before the foundation of the world, it is his unchangeable decree, in accordance with his secret counsel, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he has chosen in Christ, and to bring them by him to everlasting salvation, as vessels of his mercy.

In other words God has chosen who will be saved. He did this in eternity before even creating us.

14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair?

Isn’t that our main objection to predestination. It’s unfair. We have a VERY strong sense of “fairness” in our Norwegian society. Everyone has to get same opportunity. Everyone has to get the same. If one gets a sweet, everyone has to get a sweet. So much so that sweets were banned in my daughter’s class because not everyone could get and some people might feel bad if some had an others didn’t. So no sweets, cakes or biscuits for anyone. Got to be “fair”.

But the gospel is not fair. If the gospel was fair it wouldn’t be good news because we would get what we deserve – eternal judgement.
Is God unfair? No, because he is God he can show mercy to anyone he chooses! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy.

Just like it is perfectly fair for me to take my kids out on a Daddy date, and not take someone else’s kids out with me. Because I’m my kids Dad. I love my kids. No-one would say “that’s not fair”.
Same with God. He has mercy on those whom he loves. And what mercy! God goes on a rescue mission that involved being born a man, suffering and dying on a cross, in order to rescue us!

Now if you’re struggling with this, let me give you some comfort. You’re struggling because of your culture, not your morality. It is your cultural bias that is being challenged, not necessarily what is good and bad. If you were born in a different place or different time you would have no problem now. So let’s not give our gut reaction too much weight. Our culture is good, but has many flaws.

But our struggle is real. So let’s try to understand this. Because we often misinterpret this as “So you’re saying that I’m a robot!”.
No, the Bible is very clear that we are not robots, that our choices are real and that they matter. In fact it is our choice to reject God that sends us to hell. But the fact that we have real choice (sometimes called “free will”) does not mean that God cannot be sovereign over all things.

But how does that work? I don’t know. How is light a stream of photons and a wave at the same time. No-one knows. But it is. Start reading up on quantum physics. Weird stuff. Impossible stuff. But it happens every day all around us. We live in a complex world where things that seem to contradict and cancel each other out… don’t. Two things that we think should be exclusive aren’t. God’s sovereignty does not change our free choice, and our free choice does not exclude predestination.

Salvation is like a door: we see “Come and choose to be saved” but as we go through the door we see behind us “predestined from before time”. These are two sides of the same coin.

Predestination is fundamental to a gospel of grace. The gospel does not work otherwise. Our very concept of God does not work.
If we throw out predestination we throw out grace. Because grace is by its very nature “unfair”.
We deserve hell (Romans chapter 1,2 and 3) – that is what we chose by the exercise of our free will. But God in his mercy overrides our choice. Predestination. We who did not choose God are chosen by God… and so we then choose God. God changes our hearts so that we love Him and choose to follow him instead of reject him. Instead of us getting what we chose, what we deserve, Jesus takes it. He goes through death and hell so that we don’t have to. He is treated like us. And we are treated like him. Children of God. Eternal inheritance. No condemnation. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Without predestination none of that is possible. If you want grace you want predestination. If you want grace you want God’s sovereignty. It is not possible otherwise. This is a wonderful doctrine.

And then Paul goes and ruins it with v17!

17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

Woah dude. God hardens people as well? I didn’t sign up for this! God is a loving God!

Well, maybe it’s time we get rid of the idea that our God is a loving God?

God is a loving God to those whom he loves. But to those whom he does not love, he is not. In the end He is a terrifying judge bringing destruction and eternal damnation. If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Saviour then be afraid! Fall to your knees and plead for mercy. Maybe He will hear your prayer.

19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

Well, if God is sovereign over everything, then what’s the point? How can he judge us? How can I have free will, free choice? And the answer is…. God is God, trust him.

20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

This is both terrifying and greatly comforting. The world is divided up into two groups: those chosen in Christ to bring eternal glory to God. Those not chosen who are garbage. Ouch.
But if you’re in Christ, be free. Your salvation rests on God’s election, his eternal choice. You are secure!

Now the annoying thing is that God has not told us why or how he chooses some and not others, and how that lines up with his desire that all men should be saved. We are simply called to trust him, and trust his character revealed in our Lord Jesus, particularly in his death on the cross. When we see Him one day we will understand, and we will praise him.

See how the passage makes us focus on God and on his sovereign choice: over Isaac, over Jacob, over Israel, and over us.
Now there’s a very tempting theory out there called Arminianism which is not happy with God not revealing the reason why some are given saving faith and not others. Arminianism says that God looked into the future and saw our choices. That how he chooses who is saved and who isn’t. It fits well with our culture, it seems to solve the problem of God being a big bad who sends people to hell. Unfortunately it also removes assurance of salvation and puts us squarely in the centre of salvation. Oh, God chose me because I chose him. There’s three reasons why it doesn’t work:

1. God is not bound by time. He’s not looking ahead to see our choices. He’s already there, in the moment. And he’s at the end of time with those he has glorified (Rom 8:30)

2. He made us. He designed every part of us and the world we live in. it’s not like he doesn’t know the factors that will influence our decisions. So you still end up with the same problem: God designed some people in a way that meant they would choose him, but others were designed to reject him.

3. It rejects the Biblical teaching on sin. Rom 3:10 No-one seeks God. Eph 2:1 We are dead in our sins. Rom 5:12 death spread to all men because all sinned. Gen 6:5 every inclination of the heart of man is only evil all the time.
There is no way we can save ourselves because we are dead in sin. We cannot choose. Some people then respond “Ah, but Jesus’ death opened the way for everyone to choose”. But that’s makes all the clear teaching on sin nonsense: if Jesus’ death opens the way for everyone so that everyone can choose, then everyone can seek God – but the Bible says “no-one seeks God”.

4. And here’s a bonus reason: that not what tonight’s passage says! It’s very clear that God decides. Not us. He is the source, not us, no matter how much time is involved.

30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

Don’t stumble over the stumbling stone of Jesus. Trust him, not in yourself.

See, the doctrine of predestination is wonderful! As the 17^th article says: The reverent consideration of our predestination and election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable strength to godly persons, who feel the working in themselves of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly passions and drawing their thoughts upward to high and heavenly realities. This teaching is welcome to us both because it strongly establishes and confirms our assurance of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, and also because it kindles in us a fervent love to God.

Predestination is fundamental to the gospel and to our understanding of God. It is liberating. It is freeing. God is God and am not and his undeserved favour resets upon me so I’m free to serve him and love him and ador him and when I fail I am not worried because he loves me and has already glorified me – so secure am I!

Praise the Lord.

To end off, I want to give us a gentle push to those of us who are still struggling with this doctrine.

1. You already believe it. You believe that in the beginning God created everything from nothing. He is awesome in power, sovereign over all things. The God who speaks and things are from nothing, is supremely powerful! Of course he’s sovereign over our salvation too.

2. It goes against our culture. Be suspicous of doctrines that tell us what we want to hear.

3. It gives glory to God. We are small, God is big.

4. The greatest theologians of the church throughout history believe in predestination as the clear teaching of Scripture: The Apostle Paul certainly did. So did Augustine, Calvin and Luther, guys who took the Bible very seriously and changed the world.

5. No cults believe in predestination. None of them. Every single cult, whether Jehovah’s Witnesses or Iglasio ni Christo all reject the sovereignty of God and predestination. So does unbiblical nonsense like the prosperity gospel. Why? Because then I can’t get power over you. If salvation comes from God then you don’t need me! But if I can convince you that salvation comes from your own efforts, then I can say “and you need me to coach you, now give me your money”. Predestination protects us from dependence on sinners for salvation.

Brothers and sisters, we serve an awesomely powerful God. And for some reason he has chosen to lavish his love on us. Why, I do not know. But I am so grateful. He called me out of darkness to light, and he has called you. Praise God. Praise him with great praise!

And because He is sovereign, then anyone can be saved. There is always hope, because maybe your family member, your work colleague, your friend, or that stranger on the bus, is elect. Left to our own devices we all reject God. But God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. Amen.

Mark 14:1-26 Jesus, our amazing rescuer!

Mark 14:1-26

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How many of you watched Usain Bolt win the 100m sprint in the Olympics. Imagine all the preparation that went into those a little less than 10 seconds. Hours and hours of practice, of discipline. Carefully planning your food, your training. Keeping yourself healthy. All for a sub-10 second burst.

That’s what we’re seeing here. Everything has lead up to these moments. And so just like in the Olympics when the race is broadcast again in slow motion so we can capture all the details, so Mark slows down his gospel. Chapters 1-13 cover about 3 years of Jesus life. These next 3 capture the last 3 days. Mark goes into (for him) slow motion so we can capture all the detail of these last couple of days of Jesus’ life here on earth. From his anointing for burial to his last meal with his disciples, to his sham (fake) trials, and to then the reason he came, his 100 metre sprint: his display of Kingly service on the cross as he dies for sinners like us. And then to the shock revelation when the tomb is found empty. This is what Mark wants us to hear, to understand, to believe, and in believing, have life. Remember how he began: This is the Good News (gospel) about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

Three points tonight:

1. Jesus is our Messiah

2. Jesus is our Passover Lamb

3. Jesus is our Sovereign Lord

1. Jesus is our Messiah (anointed one)

3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

Three days before his death Jesus has an alabaster jar of perfume poured on his head. This is called “anointing” – you see the word there in v8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

To anoint something means to pour oil on it to set it apart for special or holy use. It was an Old Testament symbol, a sign that this person or this thing was holy, given over to God. Three types of people were anointed in the Old Testament: Kings (2 Sam 2:4 “the men of Judah anointed David king over the people”), Priests were anointed (Ex 29:7 “Then anoint [Aaron as priest] by pouring the anointing oil over his head”), and Prophets were anointed (1 Kings 19:16 “anoint Elisha ...to replace you as my prophet”).
The anointing symbolised being equipped for service by the Holy Spirit. King, priests and prophets were anointed, set apart to serve God in the power of the Spirit.

Now there might be a little question ringing in your head – wasn’t Jesus already anointed? And yes he was.
Mk 1:9–11 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

At his baptism Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit as King, Prophet and Priest. Revealed to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. King – remember Jesus says 1:15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”. The Kingdom is near because the King is here.
Prophet – the one who brings God’s word. 1:38 “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”
And he is Priest – the one who represents the people to God. Remember that’s why he was baptised. Baptism was for sinners – so why did Jesus with no sin need to be baptised? In order to be one of us. To identify fully with us as sinners as he prepares to take our sin upon himself.

7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

The role of the priest was to offer sacrifices to God, to mediate (make clear the way) between sinful man and holy God. Jesus is not just the priest, but also the sacrifice. He himself will pay the price for sinful people like you and me to come to God. Did you notice his words: she has anointed his body for burial. He is preparing to die. This is why he came.

And to tie in to last week, this is the reason why the Temple will fall. Because of Christ it is no longer necessary. The stone Temple will fall because Jesus is now the true meeting place between man and God. He is priest, sacrifice and temple!

9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

And so it is. Here we discuss what she did: reminding us and those with him that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. He is King, prophet, and Priest. He is sacrifice and temple. It reminds us of his baptism: only sinners need to be baptised - for baptism is a washing away of sin, dying to sin under the water and rising again to new life out of the water – and just as Jesus identified with our sin in his baptism, so now he completes that work of baptism by taking the penalty of our sin upon himself. His body will be broken, his blood shed, to break the power of sin over us, to set us free, to achieve the real Exodus: bringing his people from slavery to sin under the power of Satan to a new freedom in (ultimately) a new earth under his good kingly rule.

Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, God’s promised rescuer, and our King, our Prophet, and our Priest. Amen!

And he is our sacrifice, indeed, our Passover Lamb.

2. Jesus is our Passover Lamb

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

Mark reminds us of the PASSOVER and the threat of Jesus death immediately in v1 It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. Then he is anointed for his burial. Then v12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed
v14 where shall I eat the Passover meal, v16 Passover meal

Ok, ok Mark, we get it! Remember that there was no bold or underline in the original manuscripts. So the way the authors could get our attention is to repeat things! So quite clearly the Lord God, through Mark, is saying we need to pay attention to the Passover.

It is just two days before the Passover, just two days before the Jews remembered God’s incredible rescue of them from slavery in Egypt, where the angel of death came over the whole country – but everyone who sacrificed a perfect lamb and put its blood on their doorposts were saved. When death saw the blood he passed over.

And Jesus deliberately echoes the Passover so that we can understand what is going on here.
22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.

He takes the bread and breaks it. The bread would have been unleavened bread, that is flat bread, bread without yeast. It is bread you can make in a hurry, if you have to leave quickly. The Israelites were to make flat bread in preparation of the sudden call to leave Egypt, that very night. Judgment would fall on the Egyptians, and the Israelites would be set free.

And Jesus takes this flat bread and says “this bread, this symbol of God’s great rescue from slavery – this is my body.”
It is an outrageous statement to make.

And he follows it up with an even bigger one: “this wine, this is my blood, poured out as a sacrifice”. I am the sacrifice. I will be poured out. For I am the one who will rescue you from death. I am the true Lamb, leading the true Exodus. Not rescue from slavery in Egypt, but slavery from sin. Not just salvation to the promised land of Israel, but salvation to heaven itself. And not just rescue from physical death, but rescue from spiritual death. This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people.

Jesus is about to be sacrificed in order to fulfil the covenant (promise) God has made with mankind.
First with Adam: Jesus is the second Adam, the perfect son of God, righteous, sinless human. As Adam sinned and so condemned us – so Jesus will die in our place and save us.
Then Noah: Jesus is the Ark of rescue from the flood of judgement to come. On the last Day we will be safe from God’s judgement in Christ.
Then the promise to Abraham: Jesus is the descendant of Abraham come to bless all nations. Just look around! We’re from many nations.
And Moses: Jesus is the perfect Law-keeper, and the Prophet like Moses, bringing God’s life-giving wor.
And David: Jesus is the righteous, eternal, King. Just as was promised David: your descendant shall rule forever.

Jesus is the YES! to all God’s promises.

He is the Passover Lamb. He is our saviour.

In fact, he has always been the saviour. We’ll be reminded of Exodus again and again through the coming weeks as we look at these final chapters of Mark. The Exodus, the great miraculous rescue of a million people from slavery to a new home, was a mere shadow compared to what Jesus is achieving here. This is the real Exodus. Throughout time and history Jesus’ blood powers his mercy. Each time God relents from judgement: Jesus’ blood is there. Each time we see God meeting with sinful people: Jesus’ blood is there. Even the Exodus itself is only possible because of the blood of Jesus. The blood of lambs could not take away the guilt of the people! No, it was the blood of the true Passover Lamb, Jesus, shed 1500 years later, that washed away their guilt and spared them from the judgement on the Egyptians. God had told them what they needed to do to be rescued, and they placed their faith in his word, acting accordingly, sacrificing the lambs – and God saw their faith, and counted it to them as righteousness, covering their sins through the blood of the Son.

So the disciples meet to celebrate the passover, while the real Passover is taking place at that moment. Interestingly, the Passover meal consists of bread, wine…and a lamb. But there is no lamb mentioned here in this passage. Perhaps it is to make clear that the sacrificial lamb who will be slain is seated in front of them.

Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

3. Jesus is our Sovereign Lord

25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” 26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

Jesus was not some poor victim of circumstances outside of his control! He himself had planned this, with his Father and Spirit, united in purpose and love to rescue sinful humanity, and bring glory to the Godhead. All praise be to God! Such love that drives Jesus willingly to the cross.
We’re reminded time and again that Jesus is doing this by choice. Did you notice verse 16? 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said

And 18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.” 19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?” 20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

All is prepared beforehand. God is sovereign over all things, all events – even Judas. 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. Whatever motivated Judas to act: greed, frustration, hatred - we don’t know. But even he in his evil is serving God’s purposes. Jesus must be betrayed. Jesus must die. But does God’s sovereign purpose mean that Judas has no free will – that he is not respinsble for what he’s done. Can Judas say “without my betrayal, there would be no cross. You needed me, you made me do it, therefore you owe me”. No! 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

Judas is responsible for his decision – as are we responsible for the decisions we make. God is fully sovereign, knowing our thoughts before we think them, preparing the way of the Son before the dawn of time – and our decisions are real decisions, with real consequences. So beware how you respond to Jesus. Don’t be like Judas, rejecting the King, for you too will hear “woe to you, it would be better if you were never born”.
Instead, fall at his feet like the woman 2000 years ago, worshipping him with costly worship. Because we have been rescued, set free, by him. Jesus bore our sin on the cross. It is gone.

Respond rightly. Because Jesus is the sovereign King.

And Be comforted, for Jesus is the SOVEREIGN King. Evil cannot thwart God’s plans. You cannot jump out of His hands. Nothing would stop Jesus from his great work on the Cross. He completed that work. Our Passover Lamb dying in our place, his blood covering all who place their faith in him. Hallelujah!

And now history moves deliberately toward his return. The Return of the King, the great day when the veil over our eyes will be torn away, and we will see reality as it truly is, the great King Jesus upon the eternal glorious throne.

Jesus is the Sovereign king.

There are two impossible applications, one for non-Christians, the other for Christians

One is to reject Jesus. To say that’s fine, Jesus did all that, but I’ll take my chances by myself. That’s the impossible application from this passage. This should drive you to repent, not to follow Judas. It ended badly for him – he hanged himself, and his insides burst open. Not a great end – but the spiritual end is even worse. Be warned.

The other impossible application – for Christians - is to live like I am the Passover Lamb. To live like I bear my sin. To live in guilt and fear. To believe that I can fall out of God’s hands at any moment, that his sacrifice was not sufficient to bring me to glory. That’s the impossible application.

Instead, let us rejoice and sing. Let us thank God. Let us shout aloud to the God of our salvation! Let us praise him in our hearts and minds every minute of every day. We are set free! He has rescued us! All praise to the Christ, King!

All praise to our Messiah, our rescuer, our Passover Lamb, and our Sovereign King. Praise Jesus, Lord of All! Amen.

Isaiah 62:1-64:12 How to read the Bible when you don't like what you're reading: Jesus will crush his enemies

Isaiah 62:1-64:12

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Today I want to take you behind the scenes – a ”making of” – of preparing a sermon. Welcome to my world, at least on Thursday’s and Friday’s. What I do Monday-Wednesday is accounting – be grateful I’m not giving you a behind the scenes on that!

So, when you’ve got a text like Isaiah 62-64 how do you go about preparing to preach it?

The first step in preparing a sermon is to read the text. Not the commentaries. Not the latest article on Facebook to pop up on this topic or this book. But to read the text. Why? Because the text is inspired by God. It is God’s word. And everything else is uninspired. Everything else is corrupted by sin. Only the Bible is written by God for us so that we can know him in all his fullness.

So we start by reading, just like we’ve done.

And then we read it again, more carefully. Look for surprises. Look for questions. Look for big ideas.
That sounds familiar, yes. This is what we do in Bible study! This is in fact how we read any text we want to understand. Especially those written from a different cultural viewpoint, and especially those which disagree with us. The Bible is both of those. It’s written to Ancient Jews. And it often disagrees with us!

Here’s my text.

Here’s some of the surprises and questions.

62:1 Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

Who’s speaking? Is it Isaiah? Is it Jesus (carrying on from chapter 61)? Is it the Lord, speaking from Heaven?

Whoever it is, He is speaking with great power. And he will not stop until Jerusalem is holy, until Israel is restored, until the people of God are made righteous. It is someone who loves Israel. So, these could very well be Isaiah’s words – but they are also the words of the Servant King, the words of Jesus, the one who fulfilled Isaiah 61 “The Lord has anointed me to preach good news.”
Why? Because there is amazing grace here. Did you notice it? Eg v5 Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. And that’s a surprise, isn’t it? WHY? Why does God love his people? Why does God claim them as his bride.

If you don’t ask that question, you’ll miss it. You’ll miss the glory. You’ll miss the astounding grace. You’ll just go, meh, that’s what God does. Yes it IS what God does – so be astounded, be amazed! That’s why this first part QUESTION is so important. Why will God rejoice over his people? Because they’ve been really good? Because they repented? Because they followed the rules really well? No. Because God has decided to have mercy. Because Jesus announced the day of the Lord’s favour. (61:2) That is now.

So the first surprise is the love of God for his people. The mercy that he has on rebellious people. Today is the day of the Lord’s favour. I fact, turn back to 61:1-2. Remember last week? This is what Jesus quoted in the synagogue (the Jewish church) in his home town: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favour has come,

So, context control! Yes, our first surprise is right – God really does love his people. He really has come to save us.

But the second surprise is the sudden violence in 63:1-6 where the Lord is covered in blood from crushing his enemies. It is a big puzzle, a big surprise, a big question mark – but it is also, we have found one of the BI GIDEAS in theses chapters and the book as a whole: Jesus the warrior.

Read those verses again and feel the weight of them. Let it hit you between the eyes. This is our God. Woah.

63:1-6 Who is this who comes from Edom (one of the enemies of Israel), from the city of Bozrah (the capital of Edom), with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!” 2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes? 3 “I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes. 4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. 5 I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me. 6 I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”

Good grief! Is this the God we know and love? Is this God the gentleman? God who is full of love? God who accepts everyone? Who is always fair and just? Is this really gentle Jesus meek and mild?

The difficulty with preaching is this: I have an idea of God in my mind. A way I like to think about God. But in preparing a sermon I cannot preach to you my version of God. I must preach God’s version of God. And in my experience he is always more out of control, wilder, bigger, scarier than my version of him.
And it’s the same for all of us if we want to read the Bible properly and really know God. We must allow the text to change our picture of God.

A big problem is that our idea of God comes not from the Bible but from our culture around us. What does our culture say God should be and shouldn’t be? It affects us more than we know.

How do we deal with a passage like this? It wrecks us because it ruins our idea of God. And our idea of ourselves.

In order for us to be good Bible readers we need to understand our cultural bias. So we don’t read what we want to be there, but read what’s actually there.

So, what does our culture say about God and about us?

Let’s start with ourselves. Because that’s what we’re most interested in. What do we think about ourselves? We are inherently good. Not perfect, but pretty decent. It is outrageous that God does not accept us. Totally unfair that God sends us to hell. Punishment does not fit the crime. We do not think of ourselves as sinners. Sinners are other people, certainly not me.

This is because we don’t understand that God’s standard is perfection. That’s partly what holiness means: absolute perfection. Absolute goodness. But we think that’s unreasonable. Perfection is unreasonable. When Chinese parents drive their children or Russia drive their gymnasts to be perfect we think hey, slow down. So when God says be perfect. Uh-oh.

And of course Hell doesn’t exist. That’s far too unreasonable. Maybe Hitler is there. And a few Islamic State guys. But no-one else. Fire & brimstone seems childish.

Our movies though reveal another side. When Liam Neeson’s daughter in Taken gets kidnapped – he goes all out and murders loads of criminals involved in the sex trade. And we’re all woohoo! Justice.
Or in Avengers when the alien baddies get killed by our heroes. With a nuclear bomb! Oh well they’re aliens.
But we understand the need to be rescued from evil. When there’s evil in the world we want justice.
But note we are always innocent. We’re never the ones doing the evil. Bad news – the Bible says that we’re the evil ones.

Well, that’s what we think about ourselves. The good. The decent. The innocent. I’ve heard many times “I thought I was good, until I started reading the Book”. One of our members said that a few weeks ago! We don’t believe we are sinners, rebels against God.

But what do we believe about God?

God is a kindly old grandfather, who says tut-tut to our sins, but will really let us all in to paradise anyway, because hey, we’re basically good people. Maybe not Hitler though. Maybe he shouldn’t be let in. Anyway, the Bible says “God wants everybody to be saved” so they will be, right? The Bible says it so it must be true.

We don’t believe God is sovereign. I determine my life. I have free will, and that is what makes me human. It is the creed of humanism – har du lyst, har du lov (så lenge det ikke skade andre). Do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. And so there is no room for the God of the Bible who is in control of my life.

We also don’t believe in God as judge. I am my own judge. The only opinion that matters is mine. On Thursday at the school concert a young girl was wearing a t-shirt that said “I complete me”.
In the movie Frozen the heroine, Elsa, ends up saving herself. No-one else saved her. She did it. Her own character was what saved her in the end. Our culture says you do not need a rescuer (Jesus) you can save yourself. God cannot judge you, only you can judge yourself.

How does this compare to what we’ve just read?

Couldn’t be further apart! And so our temptation is to make God a bit less holy, a bit less scary, ourselves a bit better, a bit bigger, a bit more like God. Every cult, false religion, has a small God. You can win him over. Do this, do that and he’ll like you. JW’s, Iglesio ni Christo, Islam, Hindism, even atheism although there the “God” is me. Just do these things and you can win God’s favour. The God of the Bible? You cannot win his favour. You cannot impress God. Look at 64:6! We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Even the good things we do are worthless – our goodness is like dirty rags. Literally the word there is menstrual cloths – that is pads or tampons. You really think you can impress God with your goodness. I’m a decent guy! Hey look God here’s a load of used tampons – are you impressed. It’s shocking language because it’s mean to shock us, wake us up! It’s meant to blast our cultural bias right away.

Our culture creates a God like ourselves – just slightly bigger. He has a bit more power, but not all-powerful. He’s a bit better than us, but not holy, not blindingly, frighteningly perfect. He demands nothing of us. Unlike the God of the Bible who demands obedience. As Jesus said: if you love me you’ll obey my commands. If you want to follow me pick up your cross – crucify yourselves daily and give up your lives for me. Would our Norwegian “God” ever ask that?!

No wonder we struggle when the Bible says that God is coming as judge – to judge us! That his judgement is that we have fallen short, and belong in hell. And that he’s coming to trample us like grapes in his winepress.

So what do you do as a preacher or indeed just as a reader of the Bible when you come to verses like these? What do you do with 63:1-6?

I know. Just don’t read them. Just don’t read the Bible. Many of us don’t. Or just read the “nice” bits. Or we read the Bible lazily. We read without really thinking about what we read. We read what we want to be there, rather than what’s there.
That’s what we do isn’t it? How many of us here do exactly that?
Examine yourself here. If you don’t read the Bible or you only read the bits you like... is it because you are hanging onto your culture, your false view of God – an idol, rather than the true and living God.

It’s much easier if we don’t read the Bible or just read bit of it, because then we can make God whatever we want him to be. That’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. And the Mormons. And unfortunately, many, many Christians. Including us.

So, those are the puzzles, the surprises, the question marks. Ok. So now that we’ve battled our culture we can see what these verses really tell us. We can get to the big picture. What are some of the big ideas in the passage, and what is its overall message?

62:1-12, the whole chapter, is God’s promise to rescue his people and give them a glorious future. Made righteous, not forsaken, a royal wedding. He will place watchmen on the walls who will cry out day and night to the Lord , praying, until he keeps his promise. He will not forget. HE will redeem, save, rescue his people.

And this is certain. Because he is the sovereign, AWESOME God of the Bible – BIG not small. Because we’ve seen time and time again that when he says something it happens. We know: he will redeem his people. He will rescue his people. If he was not sovereign it would just be wishful thinking. I HOPE I can rescue my people.

See, we like the God can rescue us part, but we don’t like the God is sovereign part – but God’s promises are meaningless, worthless, if he is not sovereign. If we want God’s rescue, if we want to know the future is secure that heaven awaits, that the world will be remade, that Jesus will come back – if we want all of that, we have to accept his sovereignty. Otherwise he has no power to make things happen! But we know he does because of the Old Testament stories. Because of Isaiah. How often do we read “ I, the Lord, have said this”. He wil rescue his people.

And we also know that God will take revenge on his enemies. 63:1-6. Why is this here? Because judgement is the flip side of salvation. There is no salvation without judgement. It is one and the same action. God comes down – you either cry to him for mercy – and he will save you – or stand against him – and he will crush you. Are you one of his people or not.

Again, God is sovereign to judge. Judgement will happen. Again, that’s not something we particularly like. But actually, we should. Because it means that evil will not have the last word. Evil will not overcome. He will have the last word.

I read on Wednesday evening in the newspaper that Islamic State just burned alive 19 Yazidi girls for refusing to be sex slaves. I read another article about two of these women who were kidnapped by IS and what they went through – and the men who are risking their lives to rescue them. That’s just one event, in one small part of the world. Stuff like that is going on everywhere. We live in an evil and ugly world. But evil will not win.

Because God is sovereign. Because God is taking care of them now. No-one escapes. Everybody dies and will stand before the fury of the righteous judge. Light so bright you cannot look at it. Remember Isaiah’s cry when he saw the Lord “I am doomed”. And Isaiah WAS a “good” man. But he was doomed. Filthy rags do not belong in the throne room.

So, application. What do we do with this chapter?

If we read the Bible lazily. If we read with our cultural blinkers on. What will our application be?

Work hard! Impress God. By being a bit better. By choosing to be a nice person. That’s our default “gospel” that we have.

And that’s completely wrong.

Thankfully Isaiah shows us what our reaction should be, what our application should be: a prayer of thanks and asking for mercy.

63:7 to the end of 64 is one long prayer.

I want us particularly to note his reaction to Jesus the warrior God in v7. 7 I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel (His chosen people), which he has granted according to his mercy and love. Remember that Isaiah writes this inspired by the Holy Spirit. So He, the Spirit is also teaching us how we are to respond to God’s judgement on his enemies: “I will tell of his unfailing love”.

Isaiah then goes through and remembers all the times God has faithfully rescued his people in the past, even though they rebelled and sinned against him. God of mercy.
And so, because God is merciful to sinners, he is so bold to ask again “Lord, remember us. Lord, save us.” 15 Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father!

Amen we cry. Lord, you are still our Father because of your great mercy. We do not trust in our own goodness – even our best good works are filthy rags before you the holy, almighty God. We are weak, we are small, we are hard pressed. Is 64 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How Himingen and Gaustatoppen would quake in your presence!

Let us cry out to mercy to the Lord, and ask him to help us, remember us. Our God will come in salvation or in judgement. Let us plead with him to come to us in mercy. Let us plead with him for Notodden, for Norway.

Let us stand and pray v5-9 Let us make it our prayer. 5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.

Isaiah 44:6-45:25 There is only one God

Isaiah 44:6-45:25

10 Who but a fool would make his own god— an idol that cannot help him one bit? 11 All who worship idols will be disgraced along with all these craftsmen—mere humans— who claim they can make a god. They may all stand together, but they will stand in terror and shame.

False gods – idols – are not God

Seems obvious doesn’t it? It kind of goes without saying. But if it goes without saying, then it needs to be said. Because the obvious we somehow forget. Because how often do we worship false gods? Oh, we might not necessarily bow down to idols – little statues, images of “gods” – but every time we sin against God, ignore his word – that’s idolatry. Every time we put something above God and his Word – that’s idolatry. And more often than not that something I put above God and his word is me. I will decide what I will do with MY life.
That is idolatry. We may as well make a little carving of ourselves and bow down to that.

So these verses are really for us! We are all fools, making our own gods. And we will be disgraced.

16 He burns part of the tree to roast his meat and to keep himself warm. He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.” 17 Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it. “Rescue me!” he says. “You are my god!” 18 Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.

That’s us. Look around and that where most people are in our society. We don’t carve idols out of trees but out of ourselves. We bow down to ourselves. Even worse, what we often do is make an idol out of ourselves – but dress it up in Christian clothes and call it Jesus. How many are sitting in churches claiming to follow Jesus – but following a Jesus of their imagination. An imaginary Jesus. We put our own words in Jesus’ mouth, push our own wills onto him – and then get angry when “he” fails us. That’s what idols do.

We must keep coming back to the Bible. We must challenge our view of God with who he actually is. We are to worship God and God alone, for there is no other. Otherwise we’re just like the idiot going out to chop down a tree, then use half the wood to keep us warm, and the other half we bow down to and say “Oh my god”.

So today I have two points to help us fight the idolatry in our hearts.
1. There is no other God, but God – and he is sovereign
2. There is no other saviour but God’s saviour.

1. There is no other God but God – and he is sovereign

6 This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.

There is no other God but God. But who is God? Did you see the word “LORD” there is in capital letters? That represents the letters YHWH – Yahweh or in old translations Jehovah: In other words, the God of Israel. The God who has revealed himself through his interactions with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (renamed Israel), and the nation of Israel, through to the kings of Israel like David, Solomon, speaking through the prophets like Isaiah, and, perfectly, finally, in the person and work of our Lord Jesus. That is the God we are speaking about. The God who made all things, the God who rules all things, the God who is in control. God.

So he is not just “God”. We cannot just fill the word “God” with whatever we want.

And what does he say: 6 I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.

There is no other like Him. In what way? That he is sovereign, in control of everything. Look at the challenge in v7 Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained (the word is proclaimed, declared) its future. V8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim (same word) my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
No! There is no other Rock—not one!”

What makes God God is his sovereign power. His control over all things, including the future. Who is like me, he says, who can declare the future. This is what will happen.

Now we struggle with this doctrine. Let me just note here that God being sovereign doesn’t mean that we don’t have so-called “free will”. We’re not suddenly robots. We can choose what we want. We have real choice. But he is sovereign over that choice. Both are true at the same time. Like as a parent of small children – they make real choices, but they do your will.

We here in Norway, in the West, we struggle to believe that God is sovereign – to believe that God is God - because we are blessed. Because times are good.
When did Israel fall into idolatry? Was it when they were suffering? No, that’s when they cried out to God – save us! It was in times of plenty, safety, security. They forgot God. Or made him smaller, more manageable, tame. And I see that same arrogance in us, in me. Blessing breeds arrogance. We are not dependent on God (so we think) so we forget that he is sovereign, in control. Our food production we don’t see – we always have enough food. We are warm, we have nice houses, we have luxuries galore. If we lose our job the State pays us. If we get sick the State fixes us.
All these things are blessings from God – but we neither thank him nor think of him. Instead we pat ourselves on the back – how clever we are. God is not really sovereign. He’s not in control. We have done this.

Let me give you a quote from a Christian in a different situation – in Aleppo, Syria, under attack from IS. “The situation in our church is going well. There are many new faces and new people are coming to the Lord. Yes, the burden is getting greater but He is in control and in charge.”

Oh that we in comfort have lost our grip on the Godness of God. Just because we don’t see it.

An American theologian, RC Sproul, puts it like this. “If you don’t believe that God ordains everything that comes to pass, you don’t believe in God. You are an atheist.”
Maybe overstating things a bit to get his students to think, but I think God is making the very same point in these chapters – and indeed, throughout Isaiah. What makes God God is His sovereign rule. His absolute power and control over all things.
He is not an idol, worthless, no power.
He is not a man, limited in his promises because of things outside of his control. Limited power.
He is fully in control, so that when He promises, it happens. Unlimited power.

An idol cannot even make promises. It cannot speak. We give the idol words and sacrifice to it “Oh please let there be good crops” or “oh please let me win the lottery”. It can’t do anything. Why? Because it’s a block of wood! It’s made up.
I make promises, but I break them. I’ll be there at 5 – traffic jam – I’m home at 6. It was outside of my control. Or my own sin. I’ll be faithful to you forever, we promise. How often has that promise been broken?

But God’s word is unbreakable.

Our brothers and sisters facing persecution, those in Syria, in Iran, Iraq, northern Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Sudan – they know the comfort of a sovereign God. In the pain, in the tears, in the heartache and bloodshed and evil of this present darkness God’s unassailable light shines all the brighter. Undimmed, it can never be put out. A sure refuge and hope. I am God and there is no other.

That’s what he’s saying to his people captive in Babylon. Tempted to worship idols. Go with the flow. To not trust him. 24 This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer (saviour) and Creator: “I am the LORD, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with me when I made the earth?

There is no other God but God, and he is sovereign, in control.

2. There is no other saviour except God’s saviour.

11 This is what the Lord says— the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands? 12 I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command. 13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfil my righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions. He will restore my city and free my captive people— without seeking a reward! I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

God’s sovereignty is a source of great comfort to those who are suffering, those who are in danger. Because there is a sure hope. The God who stretched out the heavens has promised that he will be with us, that he will save us. As we saw last week, thinking about the cross and the resurrection, that salvation was bought at great personal cost. He is with us in our pain, not at a distance, but with us. He has been through it himself. Jesus experienced our tears, carried our sin, bore our evil, died our death - and one day he will wipe every tear away, and evil will be no more. And that day is set, set in stone, no even more solid than stone – that day is in the mind of God, promised. And He keeps his promises. There is nothing that can disrupt that. No molecule outside of his control that can have some huge butterfly effect and cause God’s plan to come crashing down. No, all things WILL be brought under his control.

How do we know?

Because he has shown us time and time again that he is in control. And in today’s passage it is that he will save his people, trapped in Babylon, the most powerful Empire on earth. Puh, that’s impossible. Oh really, says God, wait 'til you see this! Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will save you in the most unlikely way.

13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfil my righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions.

It is a surprising rescue which speaks of God’s awesome power. God raises up this one man, Cyrus, to rescue his people. Notice again God’s absolute control. He is raising up not someone from amongst some nation to eventually hopefully take over – but this specific man from this specific nation at this specific time. God has done this 2 This is what the Lord says: “I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

Now I know some of you will be saying Ah but God sees the future and sees what choices people will take and uses that. So God is dishonest? He’s just pretending that Cyrus is doing his will? God was just lucky? Because Cyrus certainly didn’t choose God. 4 Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? And v5 I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me,

No. The Lord raises up a whole Empire – the Medes and the Persians – with this specific King, Cyrus, to, at the exact right moment, the moment promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah, 70 years after the exile began – Cyrus marches into Babylon and the Babylon Empire falls. And Cyrus immediately decrees that everyone shall go back to their homelands. Including the Jews. All the Jews can go back to Israel, just as God had promised.

All this – the rise of Empires, the emergence of great kings – all for this 4 “And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one.
5 I am the Lord; there is no other God.

God raised the Roman Empire for the sake of the church. There was common written language (Greek), road and shipping network for rapid growth of the church. There was peace and stability in the known world. Everything was ready. Even cruel crucifixion God allowed so that Jesus could be cursed on a tree, crucified, in fulfilment of Deut 21:23 and Psalm 22. An Empire raised for this single purpose: for Jesus to save the world, and for his name to be proclaimed throughout the world for all time.

There is only one saviour, and his name is Jesus. Jesus has paid the price for our sins. Jesus is the reason God says in 44:22 I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”

Only in Christ can you be set free. And only the real Christ. The one who is Lord, sovereign over all things in your life. You cannot pray a prayer “I accept Jesus” and then go along with your life. No, your life is his. We are the pot. He is the potter. 9 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’. He is the sovereign God, the sovereign saviour.

I realise that some of us may have some objections or questions in our minds. Some maybe quite big. That’s great. We’ll have time after communion to address them. But I want to ask you to them aside for a moment as we apply God’s word now to ourselves.
For all of us, Lord, will you put away excuses and objections and distractions and let us hear your voice challenging us.

1. There is no other God, but God – and he is sovereign
Do we believe this? Do we believe that God is in control?

We panic and worry about so many things. For Israel, it was “How are we going to get out of Babylon and back to Israel?” It was impossible. But God already had a plan. He was raising an Emperor at the head of a mighty Empire in order to rescue his people. Could they see that? No. But they believed it when Cyrus marched in and sent them back home! Just as God had said.

But you and I – what do we worry about? Here’s maybe a few things:

Money. Jobs. What if I don’t have enough? Isaiah tells us: Brothers, obey God first. He is in control, even over your job, your finances. Trust him. Start giving to gospel work as an act of trust. If you can’t start with 10%, start with something. You’ll be part of God’s saving work (woohoo), it’ll help the church (woohoo) – but more importantly, it will break the idol of worshipping yourself - of thinking that your job, your income, comes from YOU and YOUR hard work instead of God. What did Jesus say? Lk 12:29–31 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.”. Obey God first, and see what he does.

What about Time. Do you trust God with your time? Maybe you’re working so much (or doing other things) that you don’t have time to serve at church (or even BE at church) or even serve your family like you should? Again, brothers, obey God first. Trust Him. Do what is right and leave the rest in his hands.
I made the scary decision to go part-time a few years back in order to plant this church. We didn’t have enough. It made no financial sense. And yet God provided. Again and again. Speak to my parents. Ask them how often God provided when we had nothing. Jesus carries on in Luke 12:32 saying “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.”

Money. Time. What about Sex and relationships? Again obey God first. Trust his word on sex, on marriage, on relationships. Honour God first. He does know what he’s talking about. Turn the porn off. Stop sleeping with your girlfriend. Move out if you’re living together. (If you’ve got kids together, maybe find another way to honour God. Daddy moving out might be traumatic). But do something to say I trust that God is sovereign over this area of my life. Do whatever it takes. I’ll be happy to talk confidentially with any of you if you’re wondering what to do in this area.

Whatever it is that we are facing. Obey God first. Daniel – obey God first. Why? Because he is in control.

One final thing. Salvation. Obey God first. He’s in control of salvation too! It’s his gospel. It is only through Christ that we can be saved.
We have seen the sovereignty of God in action in this church. If God were not sovereign I would not have been saved. He rescued me when I was not looking for him. He rescued me when I was busy worshipping an idol – a pretend version of Jesus who never bothered me and never made any moral demands of me and never told me to repent and change my life. Does that sound like the God of the Bible? No, “he” was an idol. And then the real God broke through, and, oh my, he told me to repent!

And many of us here have had the same experience, and we are seeing God at work in our friends and neighbours – isn’t it thrilling? Isn’t it amazing to serve a sovereign God? One who is not limited by past sins, or whether someone is “seeking” or not, or whether they’ve been to church or grew up in a Christian home or anything else. He kicks down the door and says grabs hold of the prisoners and carries them to the rescue helicopter. Get to the choppaa!

21 “Pay attention, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I, the LORD, made you, and I will not forget you. 22 I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.” 23 Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done this wondrous thing. Shout for joy, O depths of the earth! Break into song, O mountains and forests and every tree! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel

Q’s:

You might think of God as tinkerer, adjusting a moving train, master manipulator. Then can things go wrong? Can things go so wrong that he can’t bring them back?

Can anything happen that God doesn’t want to happen? IF so, then he wouldn’t be God.

But what about when we choose to do evil. Sin. Turn away. Is that God’s will? Is he sovereign over that? Well, yes. So then I can say ha, God planned for me to do that, so its God’s fault.

No.

God’s will is to let us have free choice.

Gods will is to let us experience the consequences of our actions

God’s will is to limit the consequences of our actions.

God’s will is to show us grace.

Isaiah 43:18-44:5 Salvation is about God, not about us.

Isaiah 43:18-44:5

Have a look at this picture. It’s the famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, showing the creation of man. God, in all his glory, giving man the divine spark of life.

But this is what we often reduce God to. This is from the Christian comic artist Adam4d. We reduce God to the genie out of Aladdin. We want him to jump out when we call, and say “Poof! What do you want, Master.”

That is what Israel had been doing with God. But life does not work our way. We are not the master. Life is not designed to glorify us. All creation exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to glorify God.

And that’s the only way it works. Everything is designed to glorify God. And when we go against that things go wrong. It’s like trying to run a freight train off the rails. Evertyhing goes wrong. A train is designed to travel on rails. On rails – good. Off rails – very, very bad!

And we, and everything around us, are like that. Living to God’s glory – good. Living against God, ignoring God, rebelling against God – very, very bad. For us! We must learn from the painful lessons Israel learned! They treated God like a genie. They put themselves over God. And things went very wrong. So now they’re in exile and Jerusalem lies in ruins.

It is actually in our own self-interest to live God’s way. The problem is, even if we see it, even if we know what is right, we still don’t do it. We are spiritually blind. Don’t believe me? Think about this: we all agree it is wrong to lie. Right, that’s what you teach your kids: “Don’t lie”. How many of us in this room tell lies. How many of you have told a lie? Everyone who’s told a lie stand up. Well, I know it’s not just me!!

So our first point this morning is from v18-25 We are spiritually blind, which leads to suffering and judgement.
And our second point is But God as chapter 43 begins. But God saves us because of God. It’s his decision. It’s his choice. For his glory.

1. We are spiritually blind which leads to suffering and judgement (42:18-25)

Is 42:18 “Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind! 19 Who is as blind as my own people, my servant? Who is as deaf as my messenger? Who is as blind as my chosen people, the servant of the LORD? 20 You see and recognize what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but you don’t really listen.”

Israel are spiritually, morally blind. They know what is right… but they don’t do it. Has anything changed in 3000 years?
All of us are guilty, blind, even by our own standards of right and wrong, never mind God’s standards! Ever had a new year’s resolution: this year I’m going to change this. This will be different. How many of those did you actually keep? We fall even by our own standards! How ridiculous to think we can be acceptable to God, even we’re not even acceptable to ourselves. How blind!

Now, we often give ourselves a free pass when we fail to live up to our own standards. Well, I was tired. She was horrible, so I had to be horrible back. Telling a lie was totally the right thing to do in this situation. We brush off our failures, our sins, with ah, it doesn’t matter. And that’s because we’re not holy.

But God is holy. He is perfect in his goodness. And he cannot just brush away our sins.
Imagine you’ve just been robbed – everything you own has been stolen. And the policeman who comes to investigate suddenly says “ah, you know what, it’s not important”. And leaves!
Or the judge in a murder trial says, “yawn, it doesn’t matter. Case dismissed.”
What!!! That’s unjust! That’s not right! That’s not fair!

That would be like God ignoring our sin. Our rebellion against him. Imagine all the horrors of World War 2. Ah doesn’t matter says God. Or the ongoing war in Sudan. Who cares says God, I love everyone. That would make us mad. Or that person who really hurt us in third grade, who said horrible things the whole year until we just exploded. Doesn’t matter? Or what about the lies that I’ve told. Or the people that I’ve hurt? We’ve all done it. Done things we reject. Said something really hurtful. Done something we’ve regretted ever since. Would it be right for us just to be let off the hook. For God to says “it doesn’t matter”. No.

21 Because he is righteous, the LORD has exalted his glorious law.

Because God is righteous. Because he is good. We mistake being good with being polite or being nice. You know, shine your shoes, don’t say anything offensive. But that’s not goodness. Being good – standing up for what is right – can make you a real pain. Think about people standing up to protest against injustice, often going to jail, even being killed because people get so angry with them. God is that kind of good – but a lot more. God is frighteningly good!
God is terrifying to us precisely because he is good! Because his perfect goodness shows up our imperfect goodness. It’s like getting dirt all over your clothes in the night – you know you brush past the car in winter and when you come inside, into the light – oh, look at how dirty I am!
Meeting God’s righteousness is seeing how dirty we are. It is a painful thing to become a Christian, because it involves admitting I am dirty. I am a sinner. Compared to God, I am not good. I need a saviour.

21 Because he is righteous, the LORD has exalted his glorious law.

God is righteous which means he upholds his good law. God has created this world with laws. In science we investigate his physical laws, like gravity. But God also created moral laws. And when you try to break the laws of gravity, like jumping from the roof and saying I can fly – the results are painful. The same is when we disobey God’s moral laws. When we ignore him, do not worship him. When we lie, when we hurt others. When we ignore his laws on sex and marriage. When we hate our enemies and give in to anger and bitterness and revenge – instead of being like him. Soon everything spirals down into chaos. Some of us know this well. We have lived without God, against God, and our lives are a mess. Like Israel.

22 But his own people have been robbed and plundered, enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped. They are fair game for anyone and have no one to protect them, no one to take them back home.

The point of all this, though is to teach us! For us to learn: 23 Who will hear these lessons from the past and see the ruin that awaits you in the future? 24 Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? It was the LORD, against whom we sinned, for the people would not walk in his path, nor would they obey his law. 25 Therefore, he poured out his fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were enveloped in flames, but they still refused to understand. They were consumed by fire, but they did not learn their lesson.

What should they understand? To listen to the Lord and obey him. To stop living their own way. To stop worshipping idols. Last week we saw how we are all idolators. An idol is not just something made of wood or stone or gold, not just a thing, but anything that takes God’s place in our life. Even good things like family or spouse (husband or wife), exercise, even church – can take the place of God. That is an idol.
You see, some of us have been lucky enough to grow up in Norway, a country where God’s laws have been known for a 1000 years and followed to a large extent, so our lives have pretty much worked out well. Norway is a fantastic country to live in. But we don’t know the Lord, don’t know why things have worked. We are like Israel described in 43: 22 “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel! 23 You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honoured me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.

We’ve just ignored God. Well, thanks for your gifts, but I don’t need you, I’m doing a good job with my life.

What do you think God’s response will be?

Learn from history. Learn from the mistakes of others. Because if you make this mistake, if you ignore God, thinking it will be ok, well, history tells us exactly how it will go.

25 Therefore, he poured out his fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were enveloped in flames, but they still refused to understand. They were consumed by fire, but they did not learn their lesson.

The future for those who ignore God, who live against God, is dark. It is fire, it is bloodshed, it is suffering and pain.

We are spiritually blind. But there is hope.

2. But God – God’s salvation is because of God. His choice (v10) for his glory (v7)

Is 43 But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.

I hear a lot of rubbish these days about people seeking God, taking steps of faith, and that God doesn’t know who is going to respond to him. We are BLIND. We are in darkness. Look at v1. I have ransomed. I have called you. Salvation is his work from start to finish.

Praise God! It is his work. How does he do this? Well, remember last week the servant was going to open the eyes of the blind. (42:7) 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

It is the servant, the servant of God who will do these things. And as we follow the Bible story through the centuries, the amazing, surprising, wonderful thing, is that this servant is God himself. Yes, the mighty King, the messiah, the rescuer, the Mighty Warrior, Lord of Heaven’s Armies: came as a baby, small, vulnerable, humble. Jesus shrunk himself down to nothing, to become like one of us. He lived among us, becoming one of us in order - not to judge, not to condemn – but to rescue by taking our place.

And he does this because he wants to. It is his action, his motivation. It’s not because we, or Israel before us, have sacrificed enough or been religious enough or given enough money to charity or got baptised and confirmed in den norske kirke!

No, he saves us when we’re busy ignoring him! Look at v22-2522 “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel! 23 You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honoured me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense. 24 You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults. Not looking good is it. And if salvation was based on our performance, it wouldn’t be good. But just look at v25. “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

That’s why He says in v1 “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.”

He’s ransomed us – paid the price to set us free. It’s like we’ve been kidnapped “give a million dollars or else” – and he’s paid the cost to set us free. Why? Because we are his, we belong to Him. He is our Father. We are His children. And under his protection. And so, no matter what life throws at us, we are safe.

2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. … 5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you and your children from east and west. 6 I will say to the north and south, ‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the distant corners of the earth. 7 Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’

Now the background here remember is that the people of Israel are in Babylon. Jerusalem was defeated and all the people taken away, out of the Promised Land, into exile. And God is saying don’t worry about the journey back, I will make sure you get to your destination. I will bring you back to the promised land.

For us, our Promised Land is not Israel (thank goodness). Ours is heaven – the new creation, where we will see God face to face. That is where Jesus has promised to take us. No crying no mourning no death no sin. All will be at peace. That is where we are going. And if we are in Christ nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, can stop us from getting there. Not even our own sin! If we are his, we are His.

Now these verses don’t mean that if you are a Christian you can leap into a burning building and you’ll be fine. Or jump into a raging river and not drown. You will. But it does mean that no matter what happens, even if your life falls to pieces around you, you are safe.

A man by the name of Horatio Spafford went through fire and raging flood. It was 1871, he was a lawyer in Chicago, had invested well in property – and then the great Chicago Fire burned it all up and he lost nearly all his wealth. Gone. He started to build up again but two years later in 1873 the economy crashed. He had been planning to travel to Europe with his wife and four daughters, but had to stay behind to try to sort out his financial mess. The ship his wife and four daughters were travelling in sank while crossing the Atlantic, and Horatio received this telegram from his wife “Saved alone…”
His daughters were dead. His business was in ruins.

How do you respond at a time like that?

We know how he responded. On his way to meet his wife he passed the point where the ship sank and his daughters drowned. And it was there he wrote the hymn “It is well with my soul:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way, (when things are going well). When sorrows like sea billows roll; (when things are going badly). Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, It is well, it is well, with my soul. (Whatever happens, we are secure. God is in control). My favourite verse is verse 3: “My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, (all my sin) Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Brothers: may that be our cry this week, this month, this year, and beyond. No matter what happens, let us rejoice, for we are secure. We are safe in his hands.

One last thing. These promises are for those who belong to Christ. He died for his own, his chosen people. So the question is: are you one of his people. Do you belong to him? Because if not, your own your own. And you will not get to the Promised Land. It is not well with your soul. I urge you to learn from history. Learn from the Israelites – what happened to them when they abandoned God. Learn from your own life, your own mistakes. Repent – that is turn from living your own way, and turn to God. Ask him for help.

Dear God, I have no right to ask you for help. I have ignored you. I have lived without you. But I have heard that you are full of mercy. So please save me. For the sake of your name and for your glory. I want to belong to you. And I want you to be my God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Isaiah 13:1-14:25 War and bloodshed and Hell

Isaiah 13:1-14:25

Last week’s passage was great. Last week we saw hope for the future. We saw the destiny, the future, of those who love God and are called according to his purposes: the great heavenly City coming down from heaven to earth: the new Jerusalem, God’s city filled with God’s people. No more suffering, no more death, no more evil, no more judgement. An eternity of happiness. The name of the city is God is there. And this was won for us by our King, King Jesus. Won on the cross, as he took our place and paid for our sins with his blood. We are free from suffering for he suffered for us, once, for all, a perfect sacrifice.

That is our future – if we belong to Christ. A secure future. A good future. A future full of mercy and hope. And even now we see pictures of that, as Jesus is King now, as his banner is raised among the nations and people all over the world come to Christ.

That was last week passage. This week’s passage gives us the flip side. If last week was a picture of Heaven, this week we see a picture of Hell. It is brutal language, disgusting, raw, an unflinching picture of our evil hearts.

Isaiah 13:1-14:25 War and bloodshed and Hell

It is describing the coming war against Babylon. Babylon who will rise up and conquer Assyria, conquer Judah (Southern Israel), strip the Temple, and carry all the Israelites off into captivity – that Babylon which will rule the world will fall. That Babylon which was brutal in warfare, which dashed children to death before their parent’s eyes, which sacked homes and raped wives – that Babylon will experience justice. Exactly what they have done to others will be done to them. The King of Babylon, king of the world, who says to himself “Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendour.” (Dan 4:30). That king will be brought low. The arrogance of men will be brought low. The pride of men will be dealt with.

But it is more than that, because the fall of Babylon is seen as a picture of the fall of all wickedness and evil. The judgement on Babylon is a picture of the final judgement day of God.

Just two headings today:

1. Babylon, the symbolic city of wickedness

2. The Day of the Lord.

Ok, let’s get into it.

1. Babylon, the symbolic city of wickedness.

Chapter 13 is way out of chronological order. Isaiah is here predicting the fall of Babylon before it’s even become a superpower! Assyria’s the problem at the moment. Assyria is the one who surrounds Jerusalem in chapters 36-37. Only near King Hezekiah’s death do we hear about Babylon, when envoys from Babylon arrive at the end of chapter 39. So why is it here?

Because it is a symbol of rebellion against God. Babylon is where the tower of Babel was built – indeed, that is where it gets its name “Babel-lon” meaning “gate of God”. Remember the tower of Babel? The tower reaching up to heaven in Gen 11, when God reached down to scatter the languages. Babylon is not just a city, but it is a symbol of man’s rebellion against God.

Isaiah could be called “A tale of two cities” – as particularly in the second half Babylon and the new Jerusalem are contrasted with each other: Babylon the city of sin and rebellion, Jerusalem symbolising the righteous people of God.

For the Jews this was very symbolic as they were all technically Babylonians! You see, Babylon is the great capital city of the Chaldeans – you see it there in 13:19 Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride. Guess where Abraham, the father of the people of God, is from? Gen 11:26–28 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran…. Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth.

And the question asked is which city do you live in? Are you Jerusalem or are you Babylon? There are only two ways to live: the way of Babel, Babylon: rebellion against God. Or to hear God’s call, and leave that way of life, and move to Jerusalem.
You live in one of these two cities.

The future of Jerusalem we heard last week, and it is glorious, secured not by our own efforts, but by the blood of our King Jesus. If you missed that sermon, get it. It is deeply encouraging, and you need to hear that one alongside this one!

This week we see the future of Babylon – and it is terrifying. Because Babylon has set itself up against God, and God’s patience will one day run out. There will come a day when he says “Enough! Evil has run its course, has served its purpose. Enough!”

2 “Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop. Call up an army against Babylon. Wave your hand to encourage them as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty. 3 I, the LORD, have dedicated these soldiers for this task. Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger, and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”

The picture is of a great siege – an army attacking a town. The army is huge and powerful, and it surrounds the town. The flag is raised and the attack begins. Great catapults flinging huge stones into the city walls. Huge ballista’s (arrow machines) firing wave after wave of arrows. And the soldiers, grim-faced, pounding on the gates.

This is what happened in 539BC when the Persian king Cyrus captured Babylon and the Babylonian empire fell. The Persian army surrounded the great city and then took it. King Belshazzar was killed – remember the writing on the wall in Daniel? While they were feasting and drinking and mocking Israel’s God – a hand wrote on the wall words meaning “you have been weighed, measured, and found wanting” – and the next day Cyrus entered Babylon and Belshazzar was killed.

Babylon, though continued to rebel against Persia in 522,521 and 482 – and in 478 the Persian king Xerxes destroyed the city completely, and it was never rebuilt. Babylon’s ruins stand as a warning to all those who imagine the Day of God’s judgement will never come. This once great city reduced to nothing. 13:21 Desert animals will move into the ruined city, and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Owls will live among the ruins, and wild goats will go there to dance. 22 Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces. Babylon’s days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.

So that was the fate of historical Babylon, but also all who follow in Babylon’s footsteps, which are really the footsteps of Satan. Look at how the king of Babylon is described in 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! Literally “Lucifer” the name of the devil. You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13 For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’

It is that arrogance, that wanting to be God, that is Satanic to the core. And when we try to take God’s place, we follow Satan as our master. We choose Babylon.

Babylon is the symbolic city of wickedness. It is set up against God, to reach to Heaven to pull him down. And one day that rebellion, that wickedness will be dealt with. That day is

2. The Day of the Lord

13:6 Scream in terror, for the day of the LORD has arrived— the time for the Almighty to destroy. 7 Every arm is paralyzed with fear. Every heart melts, 8 and people are terrified. Pangs of anguish grip them, like those of a woman in labour. They look helplessly at one another, their faces aflame with fear. 9 For see, the day of the LORD is coming— the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it. 10 The heavens will be black above them; the stars will give no light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will provide no light. 11 “I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty.

Well, it’s quite different from chapter 11 and 12 isn’t it? Then it was all 11:6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together and 10 In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. And 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people

In that day, in the Day of the Lord, there will be peace, there will be hope and salvation. And in that same day, the Day of the Lord, chapters 13 and 14 show us there will be terror and horror and Hell unleashed.

For there to be peace, evil must be dealt with. Evil has had its day. SO like the flood in Noah’s God’s judgment covers the earth – and anyone not in the ark will die. Or like the angel of death in the Exodus who sweeps through the land of Egypt and every firstborn son not covered by the blood of the lamb dies.

Evil is dealt with. Justice is done. So far, so good. But I have a problem with this passage, and it’s there in v16. It is brutal, it is horrific, it is awful. It is real warfare. But in this passage God says that He is the one who has sent the army who has done it. In the very next verse, v17 he says “Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon”. In v3 I will call the mighty warriors – in fact the whole way through it is God who is calling down judgement.

And I realise that there is something right in my reaction – to have a problem, and there is something wrong in my reaction.

The right thing in my reaction is to be appalled, to be sickened by the wickedness on display.
Simply because God allows this to happen, simply because God uses evil to achieve his good purpose of righteous judgement doesn’t make it not evil. When God used Judas’ betrayal to send his Son to the Cross, it did not make Judas’s betrayal right. Jesus had to die in our place, cursed upon a tree – but that did not excuse the evil of Pilate and the chief priests condemning an innocent man to a horrible death. Just because God uses evil for good does not make evil good. It is still evil. In Deuteronomy 22:22-27 the penalty for rape is your life. That’s how serious it is. The penalty for murder, even murder of children, is your life. It is evil.

So that is the right part of my reaction – to be appalled. But the wrong part of my reaction is that I forget that God is God – even when evil things are happening. I think that because evil things are happening then God’s lost control. He’s fallen off his throne. Oh I might not say that but I certainly feel that way! We struggle to believe what the Bible says: that God reigns and that everything that happens in this world is bent towards his purpose to fulfil his eternal plan.

Last week’s passage was easy, wasn’t it? Happy things are happening and God is in control. Yay! I like God being in control. This week’s passage says horrible things are happening – and God is in control. Oh. Yay? How hard was it to say “Thanks be to God” after the Bible reading? I didn’t want to say it!

What must we learn from Isaiah 13? How must we be stretched, to have our little view of God exploded into the reality of God? This chapter challenges us with: Why? Why is this world so horrible? Why does God allow this – even take responsibility for it. I will. I have. I will send. They are my agents of judgement.

And the answer that the previous chapters have made very clear is: because we are sinners. Sin – rebellion against God – is literally Hell. Hell is where God is not, it is the absence of God. That’s why it is pictured as fire and torture and generally not a place you want to be. Our sin – rebellion against God – leads to sins – all the wrong things we do. Lying, cheating, gossiping, harsh words, cruelty, teasing people, bullying – all the stuff that goes on in every playground in every country in every culture – and however much we try to stop it we can’t. Kids can be really nasty to each other. And no one taught them to be nasty. It comes from within. And then murder and rape and abuse and theft and war and the list goes on and on and on. What aren’t we capable of? In our hearts is bound up hell.

It was the American theologian Jonathan Edwards who said in 1741 that “within our hearts are the seeds of hellfire”. Basically, if hell did not exist but one man did exist hell would soon take form from the evil in his heart.

God’s holy goodness makes him opposed to sin and any form of evil. Just look at v9 For see, the day of the LORD is coming— the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it.

That Day is coming. But that Day has already come – against Babylon, against Assyria, even against Jerusalem in 587BC. Time and again God has judged evil and brought it to an end. Each day of judgement a picture and reminder of the Final Day. In a sense, we live now in that Final Day of judgement. Just as there are pictures of Heaven around us, reminders of God’s saving work in Christ, there are pictures of Hell around us, reminders of God’s righteous judgement. Romans 1:18 tells us what’s going on now: But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

That’s happening now. We live in the Day of the Lord – the day when God will judge. Signs of it are all around us. Every time we hear of brutality, cruelty. When we turn on the news and hear of all the evil things that are being done… it is like seeing the downfall of Babylon. A reminder that the Day of judgement is coming. Are we ready?

Which city do we live in?

It’s worth remembering the verses before Romans 1:18 is our key verse 1:16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…this is by faith.

There is hope. I mean we see it there in 14:1 But the LORD will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land. And people from many different nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel.

Because evil is dealt with, the people can be rescued.

The Day of the Lord is either a Day of great rejoicing and freedom – or it is a day of horror and pain. The horrors of the Babylonian war were just a small picture of the horrors of facing God’s judgment. Don’t face it! Run to Christ and shelter in him.

Two comments before we end.

Firstly: The Babylonians were horrible rulers. And everyone rejoiced when they were defeated. 14:5 For the LORD has crushed your wicked power and broken your evil rule. 6 You struck the people with endless blows of rage and held the nations in your angry grip with unrelenting tyranny. 7 But finally the earth is at rest and quiet. Now it can sing again!
Some of you have lived under such rulers. Some of you have had to flee, run for your lives, because of such cruelty. But one day it will be over, and every evil deed will be repaid. Every debt settled. Justice will be done. That is a good and comforting thought. We do not have to take revenge. God will deal with everyone rightly and justly.

Secondly, you might be thinking, oh, this is just that Old Testament God nonsense. Jesus isn’t like that. Come with me to Revelation, to the picture of our Lord Jesus’ return – gentle Jesus, meek and mild – no. He will returns as the Warrior King, to destroy evil forever, and any who is not against him will be destroyed. Re 19:11–16 Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. 16 On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

The Day of the Lord is either a day of terror or a day of joy. And it is coming as surely as the day Babylon fell came. That is a day of terror.

When the White Rider, Christ Jesus himself, appears, will you look to him with hope and joy: rescue! Salvation! Or will you look with fear and anger? Are you Babylon? Or Jerusalem? Two cities. Two futures. Where do you stand?