Promises

Today’s chapter is different from the last several that we have worked through. Today’s chapter is bright and filled with encouraging images of good things to come for the people of God. As usual, I will spend some time explaining the text. And that makes sense when you remember that our text was written long ago in a culture that was very different from ours. But the explanation of the text alone will not result in any real benefit to you. For that to happen you need to do more. And part of that ‘more’ is to ask questions of the text. That’s how it is with the Bible. You work, first, to understand the meaning of the words. But you do that so that you can ask appropriate questions of the text. It is by asking and then answering those questions that the power of the text will be applied to your soul. So, the heart of the sermon will be in the questions I ask at the end.

Let me also say that the goal of today’s sermon, the benefit to you that I am aiming at, is not what you might expect. The goal is not that you understand the particular promises of this chapter. That’s a good goal, but it is not today’s goal. My goal is for you to develop your understanding how biblical promises work. There are some dynamics that you need to see. The chapter gives me an opportunity to help you work on that. And let me add here that today’s sermon will feel a bit different from the usual. It feels different to me. This isn’t what I had planned, but it seemed that this is how the Spirit led. When the Spirit says, ‘Turn right’, you turn right. So, first some explaining.

Listen as I read the first section.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

In this introductory section Isaiah gives us an overview of the whole of the chapter. He presents a glorious image of a blessed Israel. And what contributes to that sense of glory is the contrast of light and darkness. Here, think about the time when Israel was in Egypt and the land was cursed with darkness from God, with only the people of Israel enjoying light. In our chapter, though, it is not just Egypt that lives in the dark. It is all the nations. But light will shine in Israel. This is striking because Israel in the days of Isaiah was anything but bright with light. Israel was itself a dark place. Just think back to the first half of Isaiah’s book. Nevertheless, Jesus promises the beauty of His enlightening glory upon His people. And as a result, ‘nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.’

Now, the second section.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house. Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows? For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.

Here, Isaiah focuses on the coming of the nations to Israel. For one thing, they don’t come empty-handed. Isaiah tells Israel, ‘…your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.’ This is about the return of those Israelites who were carried far from home, carried into exile. They will be restored to their homeland. The nations will bring them. But then there is also this: ‘the wealth of the nations shall come to you.’ There are several things going on here. For one thing the wealth of the nations is being brought into Israel. It is brought for the purpose of praising and worshipping Jesus. That’s why Isaiah writes, ‘They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.’ Then, Isaiah uses Old Testament ritual to explain this. He writes, ‘All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar…’ This is the language of Old Testament sacrificial worship. And finally, Isaiah explains why the nations will come to Israel. ‘…because he [Jesus] has made you [Israel] beautiful.’ The future is bright.

Next section.

Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste. The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

This is all about a change in Israel. At its heart is the change in how Jesus deals with His people. ‘…for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.’ Discipline has led to mercy. And out of that comes a change in how the nations deal with Israel. Bear in mind Israel’s status in the days of Isaiah. Israel is a lowly, subservient nation. It continually finds itself under the thumb of whichever nation is the current bully on the block. Israel, on its best day, is a third-rate nation, only to be used or ignored. But all of that will change. Jesus promises that Israel will become the great and glorious focus of all the nations. These which once scorned and used Israel will come to serve it. ‘The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet…’ And woe to the nation that refuses to submit to the new Israel! ‘For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.’ Jesus promises great change.

Here’s the last section.

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.

Everything in Jerusalem is going to be upgraded. Bronze is good, but not as good as gold. So, gold it will be. And while there are good uses for iron, it cannot compare with the luster of silver. And while the gold and silver are symbolic, the point is still clear. Jerusalem is going to be beautiful. And that will include the beauty of holiness. So, there will no longer be any violence, devastation or destruction. Instead, Isaiah writes about peace, righteousness, salvation and praise. And best of all, Jesus will be there. There will no longer be the mere symbols of His gracious presence, the sun and the moon. The reality they point to will arrive. And Jesus promises that all this will happen at the right time. ‘I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.’

There are two bits of Scripture that summarize what this chapter is pointing to. The first is from where God calls Abraham to leave his home in Ur. ‘I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ The blessings of the nations, ‘the families of the earth’, find their focus in Abraham and the overflow of God’s blessings in his life. The second bit of Scripture is from the Psalms. ‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.’ The land of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, is at the heart of Jesus’ plans for Abraham and his children out of which will come great blessings for the nations. That’s what Isaiah is writing about.

Now the questions. There are many questions to choose from. But I thought that these would be most helpful.

Let’s start with this. Why is this here? That is, what difference is this chapter supposed to make? To be sure, it is foretelling history and that’s interesting – at least to some. But I suspect that Jesus had larger concerns in mind when He directed Isaiah to write this. Bear in mind that Isaiah was writing, first of all, for his contemporaries, at least those who were faithful to Jesus. And also bear in mind that life in Israel at the time was nothing like what we see here. Israel was not doing well. Life within was falling apart. Pressures mounted from without. In a word, life was dark. In that historical context Isaiah writes this chapter. Why? The answer is simple. It’s all about hope. Jesus made promises here. He told the faithful that the darkness that they were experiencing would be transformed. Life for Israel was going to undergo a dramatic change. Jesus was giving hope. Now, be careful. Isaiah is not telling his friends, ‘Close your eyes to reality and wish for better. If you do, you will have hope.’ That’s what people today mean by hope, but not Isaiah. Instead, he writes his contemporaries, ‘Jesus has made promises about how He will deal with you in the future. If you believe Him, He will give you hope as His gift.’ There is a reason to hope. Isaiah tells them that the reason is Jesus and His promises. Faith in His promises will result in hope. Jesus will give hope.

Let’s take the next step. Another question. So, there is hope. Now what? Hope does not lead to passive waiting, not if it is the hope that Jesus gives. Hope is the basis for action. If people have been given hope for a bright future, they will endure a difficult present. After Isaiah wrote these words Israel was still a third-rate nation. Life within was still falling apart. And the pressure from without, from the current bully, had not suddenly disappeared. The situation had not mysteriously changed just because people had hope. Life was still dark and very hard. But hope from Jesus makes it possible to continue on, one step in front of the other, until the hoped for future becomes a present reality.

This is important. Let me tell you why. It’s important because what the people of God do matters. Jesus uses the actions of His people in their present to bring about the promised future. He doesn’t just pass a magic wand over the people at some point and, presto-changeo, life is good. He uses their endurance in hard times as a means of bringing about what He has promised. This really is a big deal. Faithful endurance based in true hope has a critical role in bringing about the promises of the future.

So, back to the main question: why did Isaiah write this? To encourage faithful living among the people of God so that they would endure the darkness of their lives in the expectation of being used to bring about some very great promises.

However… The promises in this chapter did not encourage everyone in Isaiah’s day to endure in hope. In fact, they encouraged just a few. Why? Here’s one reason. A promise, any kind of promise, will encourage someone to endure only if what is promised is desired by that person. A simple illustration will prove this. If some kid who hates all kinds of vegetables is struggling to finish his spinach, he will not be encouraged to endure eating it all if what is promised when he is done is a helping of Brussels sprouts. If, on the other hand, you offer him his favorite flavor of ice cream or an extra big bag of M&M’s … well, do I need to finish the sentence? So, do you see why I say, ‘A promise will encourage someone to endure only if what is promised is desired by that person’?

What does Jesus promise in this chapter? He promises the fulfillment of what He said to Abraham. The nations are going to see the glorious blessings Jesus has given to Israel. As a result, they will come and join with the people of God in looking to Jesus as their Savior and bowing before Him as the Lord of all. And Isaiah presents that promise as a basis of hope so that the people of God will endure until that day. But – and this is so important – all of that will encourage no one unless his chief joy is seeing Jesus worshipped and the nations rescued. And sad to say, there were few who looked forward to such things. But there were some, saints like Isaiah, who believed the promise and endured the darkness in hope of a better day. What was promised was desired and so they endured.

There is still one more question, one more issue to deal with. Isaiah writes about a future where Israel’s fortunes are reversed, the nations see this and are drawn to it, and together Jews and Gentiles worship Jesus with great joy. Isaiah writes about it, but he will never see it. He will not experience the blessings that are being promised. So, why should he bother with this endurance thing? The fulfillment of the promise is far into the future, and I think that Isaiah knows that. So, why bother? Enduring the darkness in hope makes sense for someone like Isaiah, but only if he tells himself this. ‘I will never see the fulfillment of these promises, but by my efforts we will. And when that happens we will make Jesus look good.’ Once again we’re back to the importance of the group. Here is Isaiah and others with him. He, as an individual, has a role to play, and he wants to play that role well. But he does that as a part of the group and he does that for the sake of the group so that it will achieve the goal. So, he could say, ‘I will not achieve the goal, but we will.’ Isaiah never saw the day that he wrote about, but his efforts were an important part of making that day happen.

There is one more step to take for the sermon to work. But it is something that you need to do. Most of you know about keywords, words that summarize an essay or the like on the internet. Here are some keywords that summarize this sermon: promise, hope, endurance, darkness and light, nations, the group, Jesus as chief joy – and yes, even ice cream and Brussels sprouts. I would suggest that you pick one or two of these and meditate on the sermon from that vantage point. And here is one of the questions that you should ask yourself as you ponder your keywords. ‘What is it that the Spirit wants me to believe?’ Be careful. Don’t think of ‘believe’ as a merely intellectual thing. Think of it as in ‘repentance and faith’. Believing, true faith, always results in action. There are things that the Spirit wants you to do. The first step is believing what He has said. What is it that the Spirit wants you to believe?