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God's People Headed for Home - Well Almost

Well, the story of Isaiah, I introduced it again last week after a long time out of it,
the story of the broken-hearted father dealing with his rebellious children, children who
had repeatedly ignored all his warnings and the warnings of the consequences of disobedience
and the general sort of despising of him as their father. And so it had come to the point
where Isaiah's task was to announce God's intentions for his special people, the southern
kingdom of Judah. And his immediate intention, played out in chapters 1 to 39, was to bring
judgment and purging.
God provoked the father, would no longer put up with the rebellion. Instead, he would withdraw
from close relationship with his children. He would actually have them forcibly removed
from the family home, the promised land. And that, through the awful circumstances of exile
in Babylon, if you can see the details of that in chapter 39, verses 5 through to 8,
the future looks bleak indeed as judgment and purging falls on them. But God's ultimate
intention for his people was salvation. And the wonderful thing about this father is that
though broken-hearted and provoked now, he always remains tender-hearted towards his
children. They give up on him, but he will never give up on them, is his word through
Isaiah. And that love and commitment will be seen clearly in the future in words of
comfort and promise. Punishment will give way to restoration, reconciliation, forgiveness,
new family relationship. And most of all, his wayward children will be brought back
home to where they belong. And that's worked out in chapters 40 through to 66.
Isaiah looks into the future in his mind's eye of faith, even as God's people at that
very time are in exile in Babylon. Isaiah looks to the future and sees God's ultimate
intention. And those, that ultimate intention are the words, the basis of the words of comfort
that Isaiah is told to speak to God's people. Picking up in chapter 40, those wonderful
words of comfort, comfort, comfort my people for their time of hard service is over. In
other words, they've been in jail, they've been doing hard labour. Now that's going to
give way to restoration, reconciliation, forgiveness, to salvation.
Now, as we move into this second section, 40 through to 66, there's three pressing questions
that demand answers as we read through here. The first is this, what could possibly bring
comfort to God's people? They've been totally shattered as a nation by this stage. They're
in exile in Babylon. It seems as if all God's promises have gone to nothing. It seems as
if God's abandoned them. They're quite literally slaves in exile. What words of comfort could
be spoken to such a people?
Second question, even harder question, why would the Lord persist with his rebellious
children? If you look at chapter 48 verses 8 to 11, and I'm actually going to read three
verses there, chapter 48 verses 8 to 11, we'll see something absolutely astounding. That
whole section 1 to 11 is worth a read to remind yourselves some other time. I don't have time
to read it now. But God's speaking about the impact of the exile on his people. And
God is quite aware that the exile is not going to make one pin of difference to. You have
neither heard nor understood, for from of old your ear has not been opened. Well do
I know how treacherous you are. You were called a rebel from birth. For my own name's
sake I delay my wrath. For the sake of my prayers I hold it back from you, so as not
to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace
of affliction. For my own sake I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not
yield my glory to another. The Lord knows jolly well that after all this exile, after
all this punishment, when his people come back home, they're essentially going to be
the same. Same sinful hearts, same sinful attitudes. So why would the Lord persist when
he knows what the future's going to be? And that raises the third pressing question. If
the Lord is to bring them back home, as he says, as he promises, if there is to be salvation,
how on earth will he achieve that? If his people continue to sing and demonstrate rebellious
hearts and attitudes and actions that brought punishment initially, how then can God achieve
forgiveness and restoration? How can he ever be free to be that loving, delighted, generous
father that he wants to be? It's a big question. They're all big questions, and they underpin
chapters 40 through 66. So if you're reading through those chapters, and I hope you are,
keep those three questions in mind, because whatever you're reading will be partially
in answer to one of those three questions, or all three of them in the same chapter.
It's a good framework, again, to come to. So in those chapters, God gives absolutely
amazing answers to those questions. So turn with me now to Isaiah 51, and see how God
revealed the future to his still rebellious people. Now, remember this. There's still
rebellious people. And this is how God speaks of the future for them. A series of promises,
as I track through chapter 51 and 52. Obviously, I'm not going to have time to stop too quickly
in any of them, but you can read them for yourselves at home. And I've put them as a
series of promises. It's as if the Lord says, verses 1 to 11 of chapter 51, I promise I
will bring my people back home to perfect relationship. Now, remember, this is a promise
given to still rebellious people. Comfort for God's people is in God's commitment to
completely reverse their situation. Verse 3, the Lord will surely comfort Zion and will
look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands
like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and the
sound of singing. Such is going to be the restoration for these sinful children that
will be like the garden of Eden all over again. Verse 11, that famous chorus that some of
us grew up on, the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion, which is God's
holy city, with singing. Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will
overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Now, that's a lofty description.
That's a lofty promise, is it not? They will be brought home by their father into the family
home again where praise and joy and freedom from the effects of sin and rebellion will
be the mark of them as his children. And you see that promise against, or there's a question
raising against the promise. How on earth is God going to achieve that? Verses 4 through
to 8. What's the basis of the promise? God's character. God intends to act in the future
through his people so that the whole world will see that the truly good life of truth
and justice and righteousness is found only in him. And in fact, nothing short of the
Lord renewing the whole heavens and earth will satisfy his original purpose or intention
for his world. So there's great things ahead as there's been tough things behind. And these
are words of comfort, verse 1, to those who have not given up their confidence in God's
faithfulness, those who have not given up their confidence in the reliability of his
promise and his purpose. That promise and purpose that, verse 2, history proves. It's
as if the Lord's saying, well, look back in your history. Go back to Abraham, one man.
I made him a great nation, didn't I, against all human odds? And I will do so again. Verse
9 and 10, same sort of thing. The Lord cut down the mighty Egyptian nation here called
Rahab at the time of the Exodus, did so miraculously, and freed his people from captivity. And I
will do so again, is what the Lord's saying to his people, just as easily as back then,
because that's my character, that's my purpose. And so in short, God's saying to his people
here that rather than living by fear, they should be incredibly confident as they long
for God's promise to become reality for them, as expressed in verse 9 through the words
of Isaiah, I'll wake, speaking to the Lord. Lord, that sounds so wonderful, I can hardly
wait for it. Do it now. Is the confidence that needs to come through in God's people.
Verses 12 through to 16, also read to us by Seths. God effectively says, I promise that
my commitment to my people is as strong as ever. The future is secure because of God's
commitment to them, not because of their commitment to him. And God has repeatedly tied their
comfort to his character and purpose. So again, God's people in exile are living in fear,
when in actual fact, they have nothing to fear. They must live in the light of God's
character and God's commitment and God's purpose for them and God's promise to them,
rather than the light of the circumstances. Yes, look all around, we're in exile. We're
in exile. But let's not live by that, let's live by God's promise and his ultimate intention
for us. There's nothing to fear. Verses 17 through to 23, I promise you will never experience
my judgment directly again. There's picture language in there of God's people staggering
around. At first sight, they look as if they're drunk, but no, they're not drunk, they're
staggering around under the weight of God's judgment. It's just brought them to their
knees almost, in that picture language. Why? Because of their sin or rebellion. But look
at verse 22. And this is in the picture language of the rainbow promise, way back in Genesis.
This is what the sovereign Lord says, you're a God who defends his people. See, I have
taken out of your hand the cap that made you stagger. From that cap, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors who said
to you, fall prostrate that we may walk over you and you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked over. So, it's not as if God's given up on handing out judgment.
Others will experience it, but his promise is that his people, knowing they will be sinful
in the future as they've been sinful in the past, will never ever again directly drink
the judgment of God's wrath. How is God going to do that? God's going to do that.
And still be righteous and still be the just God of the universe.
Again the challenge, verse 17 then, rise up Jerusalem. In other words, live in the light
of God's word of promise, rather than stagger around as those still under God's wrath.
It sounds like a very modern gospel call, doesn't it? To us as Christians, we should
still be doing the same thing.
Then in chapter 52 verses 1 to 10, God effectively says, I promise that you're totally loved,
valued and priceless to me. Now, if you look at verse 46, we see the idea through there.
Egypt in the past, Assyria more recently in the past and Babylon currently, all have sort
of looked at the plight of God's people and despised them. The thinking is, well, if your
God can't keep you safe, then he's a lousy God. And if he's a lousy God, you're a lousy
people.
And so these nations have dared to despise not only God's people, but the Lord himself,
assuming that their exile in Babylon is proof that they're worthless and that the Lord is
worthless. And the Lord says to his people, no, no, never think that. In fact, it's quite
the opposite, verses 1 to 3.
My discipline of you is proof of my love and commitment to you. And in fact, I discipline
you, but you always remain like a bride beautifully dressed with garments of splendor or a beautiful
queen sitting on my throne beside me. You're priceless to me, my people, and it's because
you're priceless that I've brought judgment upon you.
And just as they were taken away, says the Lord, you will be reinstated to your rightful
place with the Lord.
And so verse 7, the greatest news of all to God's people, how beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, your God reigns.
And so as I ascend, listen, people, in exile, yes, circumstances that are awful, yes, but
listen to the word of the Lord. Listen to the beautiful news I'm bringing you. The Lord
will totally reverse your situation and bring you home in a state of salvation.
And verses 11 to 12, then, of chapter 52, depart, depart, go out from there, touch no
unclean thing, come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But
you will not leave in haste or go in flight, for the Lord will go before you. The God of
Israel will be your rear guard.
The picture there, you see, is to challenge God's people in the light of God's promise
to be ready for action. It's the picture of a new exodus. I'm coming for you, says the
Lord. I'm on my way. Be ready to leave whenever I get there, because I'm going to come and
take you home. Be prepared to walk away from everything that Babylon represents, everything
that's in opposition to me, everything that's arrogant, everything that thinks it controls
life. Leave it all behind. Look to me, your Savior.
And they have God's guarantee that in the future He will guide and protect them every
step of the way until they're safely home with Him forever.
And I take it that's the climax in this little section that we're dealing with this morning.
It doesn't get any better than that. What better word of comfort can you give to God's
people than to say to them that God will be up close and personal with you every single
step of the way. He'll be ahead of you. He'll be behind you. He'll be beside you. That's
what it was like in the wilderness, wasn't it? And that's what it will be like again,
says the Lord. I'll be with you every step of the way.
Now, those are pretty lofty promises, aren't they? Pretty extravagant promises. And the
question is, as they've been repeated several times through chapters 40 through to 51, how
on earth is the Lord going to achieve this? How will the Lord achieve this wonderful salvation,
forgiveness and restoration for His people, given that we already know that the Lord knows
they'll continue to sin and rebel? How will He do it? Well, we're already in earlier chapters
and just remind you of that as we get back into Isaiah again. The Lord's already given
ideas as to how that's going to happen because His promise says that, yes, there will be
a physical deliverance coming. I will bring you back from Babylon into the promised land.
But the Lord knows He needs to do much more than that with His people if His purpose is
going to be achieved. And so the Lord has promised that alongside the physical deliverance,
He will orchestrate a spiritual deliverance through the efforts of a character that we've
met in these earlier chapters, a character called the Servant of the Lord. And it's
that special servant who would deal with their sin, who would actually bring renewal of God's
people from the inside out so that their attitudes would be different, so that they would be
then consciously and by choice God's obedient children, respectful children as He created
them to be and as He intends them to be. And so these words and promises of Christ,
comfort ultimately will be delivered and secured and made real by this person, this mysterious
person called the Servant of the Lord. Now, we need to do a bit more revision. So what
I want to do now for a few minutes is actually have a walk through the whole of the Bible
up until this point. You who thought it was a big task preaching in 50 chapters last week,
we're now going to go back to Genesis 1 in the next 5 minutes. It shouldn't be too hard.
We need to go back to Genesis to understand this servant character and how he fits into
God's purposes. Genesis 1. God's purpose in creating the universe was simply that
He would be recognized and properly honored as Lord by those He created, by His image-bearers.
But Genesis 3, God's image-bearers rebelled and as they rebelled, they rejected God's
purpose and God's authority, instead promoting their own importance and promoting their own
purpose in life to make themselves special in God's world and to close God out of His
world. This is what we call sin. And no sooner had sin come into the world, and we're still
in Genesis 3, no sooner had sin come into the world than the Lord promised that He would
act to undo it and restore His world to what it was like when He first created it and what
He wanted it to be like. Restore the Garden of Eden conditions where once again all people
would gladly honor Him and look to Him for the good life of blessing and happiness. How
would He restore this mess that had been created by sin and rebellion? Well, in chapter 3,
we're told that it would be through a descendant of Adam and Eve, one called the crusher or
the bruiser. And from that point forward in Scripture, chapter after chapter, generation
after generation, we have the anticipation of this character appearing to achieve God's
purpose. And that underpins everything else that happens in the Bible. And that becomes
more clear as we move through God's Word to us in the Scriptures. Genesis chapter 12,
verses 1 to 3, God announces that He would achieve this salvation, this undoing of the
mess that had now come into the world because of sin through one particular nation, the
descendants of this guy, Abraham. The nation of Israel would be God's servant nation and
the mysterious bruiser or crusher character would be a descendant of Abraham and a Jew.
Then we track further down through the Bible. God makes it clear towards the end of Genesis
that He would achieve His purpose through an even narrower focus yet, that He would
actually just use one line of Abraham's descendants and one of his 12 sons, the son of Judah.
It would be from his descendants that this mysterious crusher, this salvation servant
figure would arise.
And by the time we get to the prophet Isaiah, there's been lots more stuff said through
history. But by the time we get to the prophet Isaiah, one thing's become really clear,
that this servant nation Israel was a failure in terms of achieving God's purpose, of
making God's name known and honored through the world. In fact, God Himself said, called
them a blind and deaf and dumb and useless servant because instead of permitting them
because instead of promoting God's name and God's honor in the world, their actions
of the nation had brought God's name into ridicule.
As a servant nation, it failed and it looks like God's purpose is going to collapse
in a heap. And so as a consequence, we know now that they were thrown out of the family
home. But God makes clear that His intention will be, that He still intends to achieve
His purpose. How will He do that then if the servant nation has failed? Well, as we move
through Isaiah, we start to hear about the remnant. The nation had been thrown out of
the family home, but the Lord says, I'll bring a remnant back home, a smaller group,
a sort of nation within a nation, if you want to call that.
And the Lord reminds His people that while He's bringing just a small group back, that
His purpose is much bigger than this servant nation would ever understand, but that the
servant nation is integral to it. Then it seems like the remnant, when it comes back,
is still going to be affected by sin. So we're getting ever smaller, ever more focused,
but the problem remains the same. The remnant nation is going to fail as well. What alternative
does God have now? And it's in that context that the Lord reveals there'll be one special
servant out of that remnant nation who will be the true disciple, who will be the one
who fixes the mess in God's world and brings salvation to God's people and achieves God's
purpose. And so He'll become the head of a new spiritual nation, a nation of people who
are changed in heart and attitude and who will live obediently as God's servant and
bring glory to the Lord as the Lord deserves. Now ultimately we know as we look forward
and look, sorry, we look back from the gospel period, we know the bruiser or this true servant
of the Lord to be Jesus. But Isaiah didn't know that. Although as Isaiah looks forward
into the future and reminds our faith, he sees this servant emerging as the fulfiller
of God's purpose. And he sees it in four beautiful cameo appearances. Isaiah 42, we'll see more
of this next week. I'm just going to touch you down on this so as you can actually be
thinking about this and getting it together, I'd encourage you strongly to go back and
read this and think about this theme for next week. Isaiah 42 verses one to four, we see
the first instance of this particular special alternative servant. And it comes in the context
of God calling His servant nation Israel blind and dumb and useless. You failed miserably.
But my purpose won't fail because my intention is to raise up from among you an alternative
servant, one who would get it right. He would be my special person. He would be the true
image bearer. He would be the one who would undo the effects of sin. He would be the one
who would live in obedience. And through His influence, all God's children then would
be acceptable to Him. He would establish justice in God's world. And then in chapter 49 verses
one to 13, again we see the servant and he announces his mission to the whole earth.
Again, going back to the scope of Genesis, it's not enough for me as God's servant just
to bring salvation to the remnant of the Jews, but I'll bring salvation to the whole earth,
the Gentiles as well, because that's the scope of God's promise. And so this servant in that
Isaiah 49 is revealed as God's secret weapon for salvation by which people all over the
world would be brought back to God and would actually fill God's spiritual city called
Zion. In chapter 50 verses four to 11, God's servant is shown to be the perfect disciple.
In contrast to the servant nation who refused to listen to God's word, who disengaged from
God and did their own thing, the servant will be the true disciple. He will listen to God's
word. He will obey God's word. He will do God's purpose and not his own and thereby
bring God the glory that God so richly deserves. He would also defeat all God's enemies, those
who dare to ridicule the name of the Lord or hurt a special people. And friends, the
fourth and final cameo of the servant is our subject for next Sunday, the passage that's
so familiar to us all as Christians, the passage of the suffering servant. That's for next
week. Now, why do I go into that sort of detail of the servant? Because we have to understand
that God's promises are working here at two levels. There's a physical promise of
deliverance from Babylon. But God knows that that's not going to be enough to turn his
people around. God knows he's going to have to change them from the inside out. They need
a spiritual deliverance, deliverance from that orientation to be disobedient, to reject
God's authority and to promote their own authority. That's what's really needed. And
so ultimately, for God to achieve his purpose of having obedient children who bring him
glory and honour as he deserves, ultimately the Lord has to do that in his people. And
that's what he intends to do through this servant. And so, my friends, what we have
here in Isaiah is a very clear picture of the Gospel. Sometimes, you know, people say
that, oh, the Old Testament, I never read it because God's just harsh. It's all about
judgment. Well, I don't know how they read it because that's not what I see. God is jealous
God for his own honour. He won't give up his glory to someone else. He won't ignore sin.
He's a severe God. He's a sovereign God. But my goodness, he's a tender-hearted God. He's
a merciful God. And so, Isaiah has just chugged a block full of grace. Here, for goodness
sake, the Lord is talking about children that he knows even after punishment will continue
to be sinful and rebellious. And he promises them the world. No, he promises them better
than the world. He promises them the new world of heaven. That's the Gospel where God treats
his people completely the opposite of what they deserve ultimately. What a picture, an
incredible picture of God's love and commitment for his people. Again, harsh God in the Old
Testament? I can't see it in Isaiah. This is a God who loves his people so deeply that
he will never give up on them even though currently and consistently and persistently
they have given up on him. Now, what sort of father is that? I find it as a father very
hard when my children were persistently disobedient, the one or two times in their life that I
haven't, to actually reach out to them and embrace them. I find very easily I could form
these attitudes of resentment and even distance and at times I thought maybe he was developing
some notion of hatred for some of my children at some point. You see, our Heavenly Father
loves with a love that's committed like no other love, like no other father. What a beautiful
picture, an incredible picture of God's grace and generosity, doing for his people what
they could never do for themselves. Why do they keep on sinning? Because they're a victim
of their own hearts, their own attitudes, their own sinful nature. Well, God says, I'll
break that cycle, my people, and I'll turn it around. I'll clean up the mess that you've
made. And friends, here again we have a wonderful challenge to live in the light of God's
word of grace. See, what is it that we are tempted to live in the light of here as Christians
even today, as God's people here? Well, aren't we tempted to live in the light of what other
people say about us, wowsers, killjoys? And so we tend to think, well, we have to prove
that we can have fun with the best of them. And so we betray our Lord in an attempt to
show that we can mix it with the ungodly people in our world, living in the light of what
people say about us. Or perhaps we live in the light of our own circumstances. Life's
tough for whatever reason, health, finances, family, whatever. Therefore, that must be
evidence that we're worthless in God's eyes. Quite the opposite, says the Lord, Hebrews
chapter 10 and 11. The Lord disciplines those who He loves. That's a different perspective
on circumstances, isn't it? Live in the light of what Jesus says about you now. There is
now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. See, God repeats
Himself over and over again in history. God repeats Himself over and over again in your
week, this coming week. If you're a Christian, God will repeat Himself over and over and
over again. If you're reading the Word, I love you. I value you. I will never give you
up. I will bring you home one day to be with me in heaven forever. And it's challenged
you? Listen to what I'm saying and live in the light of it. I want to finish with reading
1 Peter 1 verse 10, if you bear with me for just another minute or two. I come back to
this verse very regularly. To be homeless would be the worst thing in the world, because
we're made for a relationship. But spiritually, see, that's what we once were. Wandering,
lost. Once you were not a people, no identity. But now you are the people of God. Once you
had not received mercy, just living under God's wrath because of our sin. But now, in
Christ, you have received mercy. There's no condemnation. You're a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Listen to this. That you may declare
the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful life. Live
in the light of God's grace. Let's pray. Father God, we struggle with your Word, not in terms
of understanding its concepts, but in terms of applying it consistently in our lives.
We know our sin only too well. It rises up before us. But Lord, instead of pushing us
back to the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as it ought to do, so often it
pushes us into fear and insecurity and being debilitated. Lord, so often we live in the
light of what our minds say about ourselves and what others around us say about us, rather
than living in the light of your Word. Help us to see and appreciate the salvation that
you've achieved for us in your servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. And help us to live in
the light of it. In Jesus' name. Amen.