In Christ Alone

“On that day the Lord with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent — Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea. On that day sing about a desirable vineyard: I, Yahweh, watch over it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day so that no one disturbs it. I am not angry, but if it produces thorns and briers for Me, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground. Or let it take hold of My strength; let it make peace with Me — make peace with Me. In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit. Did the Lord strike Israel as He struck the one who struck Israel? Was he killed like those killed by Him? You disputed with her by banishing and driving her away. He removed her with His severe storm on the day of the east wind. Therefore Jacob’s iniquity will be purged in this way, and the result of the removal of his sin will be this: when he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city will be deserted, pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness. Calves will graze there, and there they will spread out and strip its branches. When its branches dry out, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for they are not a people with understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Creator will not be gracious to them. On that day the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the Lord at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.” (Isaiah 27:1-13 HCSB)

This is our final chapter over this section, the destruction of the world. While it has been abundantly clear that God intends to judge the world for her sin and how she responds to Him and His authority, the focus has really been on the redemption, restoration and the work of God in His people. Not Israel as a political nation but Israel as the people of God, the vineyard He has so carefully crafted and tended. He longs to see her vines bearing the best fruit and her wine press filled with the choicest of wines. In essence, God longs for His people to be a reflection of Himself and His goodness and grace.

As such, God has gone and will go to great lengths to see this happen. He will use every means necessary to achieve His purpose, it cannot be thwarted. Back in Isaiah 5, we were introduced to the song about the vineyard of God and how He had painstakingly built the finest vineyard, planted the best vines and did everything necessary to see it produce a good harvest but it yielded nothing but worthless grapes. The LORD asked the question, more could have been done for My vineyard than what I’ve done? He then determines to simply tear down the walls He had built around it, to pull back His hand of protection from Israel. He would let them have what they wanted, a life out from under His authority, His rule, His law. He would give them the freedom to go their own way.

Ah, but there’s the problem. Getting what we want doesn’t always result in us getting what we want, what we really want.

This chapter opens with a verse that ties us back to the previous chapter, “On that day the LORD with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent – Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.” I’m going to assume that you may not recognize why this interesting verse is a link back to last week’s lesson. Last week’s focal passage ended with God telling His people to go and hide in their rooms, covered by the blood of the Passover lamb, while He comes and pronounces final judgment upon man’s sin for no one can hide their guilt and the earth will reveal all the blood shed and those slain.

What you may not recognize is that the chapter and verse divisions we use to index scripture and quickly access these passages are late additions only for our convenience. With that in mind, I hope you recognize the flow of last week’s closing verses with the opening of this week’s. God is coming to judge sin, once and for all. As a part of that, He will bring judgment upon Leviathan – that fleeing, twisting serpent with His fierce, great and strong sword. The sword that will judge the serpent is the Word of God. Listen to the Apostle John’s description:

“I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest. His head and hair were white like wool — white as snow — and His eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters. He had seven stars in His right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth, and His face was shining like the sun at midday.” (Revelation 1:12-16 HCSB)

Fierce, Great and Strong is He, the Sword of the LORD – the living Word of God.

I want to be very clear here, so I ask that you read my words carefully and listen closely. I believe scripture is holy and inspired, God-breathed. It is the inerrant and infallible record of the Word of God. Yes, it is the revelation of God because Jesus is the WORD of God. We do not worship a book, we worship and serve the one who died for us and is the living, resurrected LORD of Creation. You need to know this book, you need to read it, over and over again. You need to memorize as much of it as possible for it is the light that illuminates the path of God. The words of this book, when read and properly understood through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will lead you to Him, to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to walk with Him and to obey Him. This book is not Him, but it is ALL about Him and for Him.

On that day the LORD with His sword, His fierce, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment upon the serpent and all of God’s creation. Jesus will judge sin, the serpent and all of mankind by the word of His mouth – the TRUTH. “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17 HCSB) Not your version or my version of the truth, HIS truth.

But why Leviathan? Why some mythic, ancient sea monster? This is not a reference to other ancient creation myths, as some scholars think, but is a reference to the chaos Leviathan and those myths represent and their rebellion against the LORD, the God of Israel. Life without the LORD is simply a life lived outside of the universal laws He established within creation. Other religions and religious beliefs try to use their gods to control those laws and the world, whereas, the God of Israel reminds us that we are to be controlled by those laws as to seek to know Him and obey Him. We, and our sin and rebellion against God’s law, throw the world into chaos (which Leviathan represents) but God will judge it and slay it with His fierce, great and strong sword – the Word of God, Jesus.

After chaos and lawlessness is destroyed, on that day of God’s judgment, the song of God’s vineyard is renewed. But it is no longer a song about wild grapes, bitter grapes that aren’t worth harvesting (see Is. 5), but this is a desirable vineyard, one that the LORD watches over, guards night and day and waters regularly. If weeds try to grow up in the vineyard, the LORD is going to fight it, trample it, burn it to the ground – no, not the vineyard, the weeds. Notice, God wants the vineyard, His people, to take hold of His strength; to make peace with Him. God’s not angry, He wants His people to experience SHALOM – life like it is meant to be, a life spent walking with Him and in His ways.

God will fight against the thorns and briers that spring up in the lives of His people. He will trample them down, burn them to the ground. That may sound a bit harsh, but thorns and briers (sin and chaos – the rejection of God’s rule and law in our lives) have no place in the vineyard or garden of God. Think about that for a minute. God will fight against the thorns and briers that spring up in the lives of His people. But doesn’t God want me to be happy? Honestly, I’ve been asked that question on more than one occasion. Usually, that question comes from someone who is wanting to pursue something that is in direct violation of God’s commands and Jesus teachings. Please hear me, God desires your holiness more than your personal happiness.

I feel like it might be important to address a cultural issue at this point. I’ve noticed that our culture often wants to assume that if Jesus didn’t directly address an issue or question then He must not object to it. However, Jesus’ silence on an issue does not mean He accepts our modern view on the issue. Jesus did say that He did not come to do away with God’s law, rather, He came to fulfill it.

Jesus came to perfectly fulfill the law’s requirements so that He could be the perfect sacrifice to satisfy God’s judgment and wrath on our sin. Jesus didn’t do away with the demands for us to live in obedience to God’s law, He came to give us the power and motivation to live in full obedience to God’s will and law. In fact, He taught us to pray for those very things in the Lord’s Prayer (see Matt. 6) – “..hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus empowers and motivates us to live in peace with God’s laws. He empowers us through His Spirit who lives in us and He motivates us through His eternal love for us.

““As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.” (John 15:9-10 HCSB)

Maybe you didn’t notice it, but Isaiah tells us this same thing. “Let it [the vine or vineyard] take hold of My strength; let it make peace with Me – make peace with Me. In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.” He goes on to point out that although God “struck” Israel, He didn’t strike her like He struck her enemies. But God does all of this purging and cleansing for one reason:

“Therefore Jacob’s iniquity will be purged in this way, and the result of the removal of his sin will be this: when he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.” (Isaiah 27:9 HCSB)

God’s work of judgment, the purging of “Jacob’s iniquity” and the result of the “removal of his sin”, is so that the altar stones will be like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing. At first glance, it appears that this is simply a way to deal with the idolatry that has invaded the lives and worship of God’s people. While that is entirely true, there’s more in this than just the removal of their idolatry, more than just the purging of this heinous sin.

First, let’s address the issue of idolatry. To put it simply, we were created for worship. God made us and has embedded within us an innate desire to worship. We will either worship Him, or we will replace our worship of Him with the worship of someone or something else. Many people worship themselves. To be honest, this is probably our default approach to worship. We remove God from the center of our lives and we put ourselves there. Life becomes focused on me and is all about what I want, need, and deserve. Even when money seems to be our focus, we often miss the fact that it is really self-worship.

Do you need a healthy sense of self worth? Absolutely, but healthy is the key word in that statement. A proper and healthy sense of self worth is based in a biblical understanding of God, man and sin. My value is found in my being made in God’s image. My spouse’s value and my love of her must be found in me seeing her as being made in God’s image and all that entails. The same is true for children, my neighbor and every other human on this planet and their intrinsic worth and my response to that fact.

But I also noted, above, that in addition to a healthy sense of self we must also have a healthy sense of sin. Especially, our own sin. You see, we have a tendency to clearly see the sins of others while completely ignoring our own. And this is precisely what we see in the next few verses of Isaiah 27, “the fortified city will be deserted, pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness… for they are not a people with understanding.” God does not have compassion on them and is not gracious towards them because they simply refuse to see their need for Him and His salvation.

We clearly see the sins and failures of others but we refuse to see our own. Don’t turn from Him, turn towards Him (Lk 15:11-32). You may think I’m referencing the prodigal in Jesus’ story I just cited, but you’d be wrong. I’m referencing the older son, the one who stood off and saw only his brother’s sin but never his own. The prodigal needed and discovered his father’s mercy, the older despised and rejected it. The older brother refused to enjoy the father’s lavish love because he felt he earned it and deserved it while his brother did not. That is the very issue Isaiah addresses.

Finally, we come to Isaiah’s conclusion of God’s judgment on mankind’s sin and their rejection of His authority in this section of Isaiah. “On that day the LORD will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the LORD at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.” God will reject many who think they have a right to live in God’s joy and peace but who refuse to submit to His authority and lordship. But this is about those who submit and seek Him as LORD.

On the day of His judgment, He will gather those who have submitted themselves to Him one by one. He gathers them from the Euphrates River down to the Wadi of Egypt. These are the traditional borders of the Promised land. But Isaiah goes further, the LORD also gathers them from “those lost in the land of Assyria” and those “dispersed in the land of Egypt.” The phrase “one by one” highlights the individuality and responsibility we each have towards God. This is not “your parent’s beliefs” or “your family’s Christian faith”, this is your individual belief and intentional response in faith towards the call to walk with God in obedience to His word and His will for your life.

I want to close by calling you to respond to God and His desire to demonstrate His love for you. In verse 9, Isaiah says that God will not only purge His people of their idolatry by removing the Asherah poles and incense altars but that He will also crush the altar stones like bits of chalk. It does not appear that these are altar stones from pagan, idolatrous worship but are the altar stones from the LORD’s temple. But why would God crush the stones of His temple’s altar? Because “on that day” the worship of God is forever changed when the perfect Lamb of God is sacrificed on a Roman cross and fully satisfies God’s wrath towards man’s sin.

“But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8 HCSB)

Christianity still clings to obedience in God’s moral law because it is eternal and written in the hearts of men. But the sacrificial and cultic religious laws and practices of the Old Testament have been fully satisfied in the death of the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus. If you will believe Him, trust in Him and call out in faith to Him as LORD, you will be “one” of those whom God gathers on that day when the “great trumpet will be blown.”

God loves you. He proved it when He gave Jesus to die in your place. Come, walk with us in loving obedience to Him.